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 any kind of green plant. Green plants make their food by taking sunlight and using the energy to make sugar. The plant uses this sugar, also called glucose to make many things, such as wood, leaves, roots, and bark. Trees, such as they mighty Oak, and the grand American Beech, are examples of producers.

Question 3

Consumer

Answer 3

Consumers are organisms that need to eat food to obtain their energy. These organisms are called heterotrophs, meaning they must eat something else as food.

Question 4

Decomposer

Answer 4

Decomposers are organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms, they carry out decomposition, a process possible by only certain kingdoms, such as fungi.

Question 5

Cellular respiration

Answer 5

Cellular respiration is a set of metabolic reactions and processes that take place in the cells of organisms to convert chemical energy from oxygen molecules or nutrients into adenosine triphosphate, and then release waste products.

Question 6

Food chain

Answer 6

A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms and ending at apex predator species, detritivores, or decomposer species. A food chain also shows how the organisms are related with each other by the food they eat. Each level of a food chain represents a different trophic level.

Question 7

Food web

Answer 7

A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Another name for food web is consumer-resource system.

Question 8

trophic level

Answer 8

The trophic level of an organism is the position it occupies in a food web. A food chain is a succession of organisms that eat other organisms and may, in turn, be eaten themselves. The trophic level of an organism is the number of steps it is from the start of the chain.

Question 9

Carbon cycle

Answer 9

The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, hyrodosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as a major component of many minerals such as limestone.

Question 10

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria

Answer 10

Microorganisms capable of transforming atmospheric nitrogen into fixed nitrogen (inorganic compounds usable by plants). More than 90 percent of all nitrogen fixation is effected by these organisms, which thus play an important role in the nitrogen cycle

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.

Question 13

Ecological succession

Answer 13

Ecological succession is the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The time scale can be decades, or even millions of years after a mass extinction.

Question 14

Primary succession

Answer 14

Ecological succession is the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The time scale can be decades, or even millions of years after a mass extinction.

Question 15

Secondary succession

Answer 15

Secondary succession is the ecological succession that occurs after the initial succession has been disrupted and some plants and animals still exist. It is usually faster than primary succession

Question 16

Pioneer species

Answer 16

The pioneer species are hardy species which are the first to colonize barren environments or previously biodiverse steady-state ecosystems that have been disrupted, such as by fire. Some lichens grow on rocks without soil, so may be among the first of life forms, and break down the rocks into soil for plants.

Question 17

Climax community

Answer 17

In scientific ecology, climax community or climatic climax community is a historic term for a boreal forest community of plants, animals, and fungi which, through the process of ecological succession in the development of vegetation in an area over time, have reached a steady state.