Chapter 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

One that produces especially : one that grows agricultural products or manufactures crude materials into articles of use. 2 : a person who supervises or finances a work (such as a staged or recorded performance) for exhibition or dissemination to the public.

Question 3

Consumer

Answer 3

Consumers constitute the upper trophic levels. Unlike producers, they cannot make their own food.

Question 4

Decomposer

Answer 4

An organism, often a bacterium, fungus, or invertebrate that feeds on and breaks down dead plant or animal matter, making organic nutrients available to the ecosystem.

Question 5

Cellular Respiration

Answer 5

Any of various energy-yielding oxidative reactions in living matter that typically involve transfer of oxygen and production of carbon dioxide and water as end products Cellular respiration is a series of reactions, occurring under aerobic conditions, during which large amounts of ATP are produced.

Question 6

Food Chain

Answer 6

A hierarchical series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food.

Question 7

Food Web

Answer 7

A system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.

Question 8

Trophic Level

Answer 8

Each of several hierarchical levels in an ecosystem, comprising organisms that share the same function in the food chain and the same nutritional relationship to the primary sources of energy.

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 Cycles

Answer 11

The series of processes by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment and in living organisms, including nitrogen fixation and decomposition.

Question 12

Phosphorus Cycles

Answer 12

The phosphorous cycle is the biochemical process by which phosphorous travels from its source in rocks through different ecosystems to living organisms.

Question 13

Ecological Succession

Answer 13

Ecological succession is the gradual process by which ecosystems change and develop over time. … There are two main types of succession, primary and secondary.

Question 14

Primary Succession

Answer 14

Primary succession, type of ecological succession (the evolution of a biological community’s ecological structure) in which plants and animals first colonize a barren, lifeless habitat.

Question 15

Secondary Succession

Answer 15

Secondary succession occurs when the severity of disturbance is insufficient to remove all the existing vegetation and soil from a site.

Question 16

Pioneer Species

Answer 16

Species that arrive first in the newly created environment are called pioneer species, and through their interactions they build a simple initial biological community.

Question 17

Climax Community

Answer 17

An ecological community in which populations of plants or animals remain stable and exist in balance with each other and their environment.