BIOLOGY chapter 3 2
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- what is at the core of every organism's interaction with the environment?
- its need for energy to power life's processes.
- what source of energy do organisms use that dont use the sun's energy?
- they rely on the energy stored in inorganic chemical compounds.
- what are autotrophs?
- they are producers that use photosynthesis to make its own plants.
- what do autotrophs do during photosynthesis?
- they use light energy to power the chemical reactions that turn c02 and water into oxygen and carbs
- what is the main producer of land?
- plants
- what is the main producer of the upper layers of the ocean?
- algae
- what is the main producer of tidal flats and salt marshes?
- cyanobacteria
- what is chemosynthesis?
- when organisms use energy to produce carbs.
- where do bacteria that carry out chemosynthesis live?
- in volcanic vents on the deep-ocean floor and hot springs in yellowstone.
- heterotrophs are also called...
- consumers
- plant and animal remains and other dead matter are collecitvely called...
- detritus
- what are herbivores?
- get energy by only eating plants
- what are carnivores?
- heterotroph that eats animals
- what are omnivores?
- eats both plants and animals
- detritivore
- feeds on plants and animal remains and other dead matter
- decomposer
- breaks down organic matter
- how does energy flow through an ecosystem?
- in one direction from the sun to producers then to consumers.
- food chain is..
- where you transfer energy by eating or being eaten
- food web
- network of complex interactions created by relationships among organisms
- what does a food web link together?
- all the foodchains in an ecosystem
- what is a trophic level?
- step in a food chain
- in a food web, what organisms make up the first trophic level?
- producers
- what does a consumer in a food chain depend on for energy?
- the tropic level before it
- what is an ecological pyramid?
- a diagram that shows relative amounts of energy or matter contained within each trophic level.
- why is it that only part of the energy stored in one trophic level is passed onto the next level?
- because organisms use much of the energy that they consume for life processes
- what are the four elements that make up over 95 percent of the body in most organisms?
- oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon
- how is the movement of matter through the biosphere different from the flow of energy?
- while energy flows one way through the biosphere, matter is recycled both within and between ecosystems.
- matter moves thruogh an ecosystem in..
- biogeochemical cycles
- what do biogeochemical cycles connect?
- they connect chemical, biological, and chemical aspects of the biosphere.
- water can enter the atmosphere by evaporating from the leaves of plants in the process of..
- transpiration
- what three processes are involved in the water cycle?
- precipitation, evaporation, and runoff.
- what are nutrients?
- chemical substances that an organism needs to survive
- what are three nutrient cycles that play important roles in the biosphere?
- carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous
- why is carbon important to living systems?
- it forms your bones, rocks, and part of the atmosphere and keeps plants alive.
- in what process do plants use carbon dioxide?
- photosynthesis, respiration
- why do all organisms require nitrogen?
- because without nitrogen, you couldnt make aminio acids
- geochemical process
- releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by volcanoes
- some biological procsses are..
- photosynthesis, repiration, decomposition
- what is the main reservoir of nitrogen in the biosphere?
- atmosphere
- what is nitrogen fixation?
- process of converting nitrogen gas into ammonia
- what is denitrification?
- break down of nitrates back into nitrogen gas
- what role does denitrification play in the nitrogen cycle?
- it releases nitrogen back into the atmosphere
- why is phosphorus essential to living things?
- it makes DNA and RNA
- what is the primary productivity of an ecosystem?
- the rate at which organic matter producers make.
- if a nutrient is in short supply in an ecosystem, how will it affect an organism?
- limits organisms growth