Ecological Processes Vocabulary

noun the act of cutting off or removal, especially of leaves, flowers, or fruits from a plant

• The process of abscission is crucial for plants to shed leaves or fruits.
• Plants drop leaves and fruits through abscission.
• Plants do some self-pruning through abscission.
• Sometimes in life, we need to practice abscission by letting go of things that no longer serve us.

noun a spectrum showing the effectiveness of different wavelengths of light in promoting a particular biological process, such as photosynthesis

• The action spectrum is a graph that shows the rate of photosynthesis at different wavelengths of light.
• The action spectrum tells us which colors of light plants use the most for photosynthesis.
• Plants have their own favorite colors of light according to the action spectrum.
• Just like how different colors of light affect photosynthesis, our actions have a spectrum of impact on others.