Ch. 5 Key Terms

Question 1

Photosynthesis

Answer 1

the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. Photosynthesis in plants generally involves the green pigment chlorophyll and generates oxygen as a byproduct.

Question 2

Producer

Answer 2

Producers are organisms capable of creating simple carbohydrates such as glucose, from gaseous carbon dioxide. For example, plants.

Question 3

Consumer

Answer 3

Consumer in a food chain are living creatures that eat organisms from a different population.

Question 4

Decomposer

Answer 4

organism that breaks down dead organic material; also sometimes referred to as detritivores.

Question 5

Cellular Respiration

Answer 5

The process by which organisms break down glucose into a form that the cell can use as energy. ATP. Adenosine triphosphate, the primary energy carrier in living things.

Question 6

food chain

Answer 6

A food chain is a linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another. In a food chain, each organism occupies a different trophic level, defined by how many energy transfers separate it from the basic input of the chain.

Question 7

food web

Answer 7

A food web (or food cycle) is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation (usually an image) of what-eats-what in an ecological community.

Question 8

trophic level

Answer 8

the trophic level is the position that an organism occupies in a food chain - what it eats, and what eats it.

Question 9

carbon cycle

Answer 9

the series of processes by which carbon compounds are interconverted in the environment, involving the incorporation of carbon dioxide into living tissue by photosynthesis and its return to the atmosphere through respiration, the decay of dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels.

Question 10

nitrogen-fixing bacteria

Answer 10

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria are prokaryotic microorganisms that are capable of transforming nitrogen gas from the atmosphere into “fixed nitrogen” compounds, such as ammonia, that are usable by plants.

Question 11

nitrogen cycle

Answer 11

The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which nitrogen is converted into multiple chemical forms as it circulates among atmosphere, terrestrial, and marine ecosystems. The conversion of nitrogen can be carried out through both biological and physical processes.

Question 12

phosphorus cycle

Answer 12

The phosphorus cycle is the biogeochemical cycle that describes the movement of phosphorus through the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. … On the land, phosphorus gradually becomes less available to plants over thousands of years, since it is slowly lost in runoff.

Question 13

ecological succession

Answer 13

Ecological succession is the process that describes how the structure of a biological community (that is, an interacting group of various species in a desert, forest, grassland, marine environment, and so on) changes over time.

Question 14

Primary succession

Answer 14

Primary succession is ecological succession that begins in essentially lifeless areas, such as regions in which there is no soil or where the soil is incapable of sustaining life

Question 15

secondary succession

Answer 15

Secondary succession, type of ecological succession (the evolution of a biological community’s ecological structure) in which plants and animals recolonize a habitat after a major disturbance

Question 16

pioneer species

Answer 16

The term pioneer is used to describe the species that first colonize new habitats created by disturbance. Although the term is usually applied to plants, microbial and invertebrate pioneer species are also sometimes recognized.

Question 17

climax community

Answer 17

A climax community is the final stage of succession, remaining relatively unchanged until destroyed by an event such as fire or human interference.