Decomposers (saprotrophs) are organisms such as bacteria and fungi that break down the organic matter in the dead bodies of plants and animals into simple nutrients.

A person's genotype is their genetic makeup and includes both dominant and recessive alleles. Phenotype is how the genes express themselves in physical characteristics.

The water then accumulates as runoff and eventually returns to bodies of water or is absorbed into the Earth (infiltration) and becomes part of the water table, an underground resevoir of fresh water.

The rows of the Periodic Table are called periods and contain elements that have the same number of electron shells ordered from lower to higher atomic number.

Work is performed on an object when an applied force causes displacement along the same vector. Measured in joules (J) or newton-meters (Nm), work is calculated by multiplying force times displacement: \(W = \vec{F}\vec{d}\)