Chapter 54

Question 0

Biomass

Answer 0

The total mass of all organisms in a given population or geographical area usually expressed as total dry weight

Question 1

Autotroph

Answer 1

Any organism that can synthesize reduced organic compounds from simple inorganic sources such as CO2 or CH four. Most plants and some bacteria and archaea are autotrophs.

Question 2

Biogeochemical cycles

Answer 2

The pattern of circulation of an element or molecule among living organisms and the environment.

Question 3

Carnivores

Answer 3

An animal whose diet consists of predominantly meat.

Question 4

Decomposer food chain

Answer 4

And ecological network of detritus, decomposers that eat detritus, and predators and parasites of the decomposers.

Question 5

Detritus

Answer 5

A layer of dead organic matter that accumulates at ground level or on sea floors and lake bottoms.

Question 6

Decomposers

Answer 6

An organism whose diet consists mainly of dead organic matter. Various bacteria, fungi, and Protista are Decomposers.

Question 7

Ecosystem

Answer 7

All the organisms that live in a geographic area, together with the nonliving components that effect or exchange materials with the organism; the community and its physical environment.

Question 8

Food webs

Answer 8

Any complex pathway along which energy moves among many species at different trophic levels of an ecosystem.

Question 9

Humus

Answer 9

The completely decayed organic matter in soils.

Question 10

Herbivores

Answer 10

An animal that eats primarily plants and rarely or never eats meat.

Question 11

Global carbon cycle

Answer 11

Worldwide movement of carbon among terrestrial ecosystems, the oceans, and the atmosphere.

Question 12

Gross primary productivity

Answer 12

In an ecosystem, the total amount of carbon fixed by photosynthesis, including that used for cellular respiration, over a given time period.

Question 13

Greenhouse gas

Answer 13

An atmospheric gas that absorbs and reflects infrared radiation, so that heat radiated from earth is retained in the atmosphere instead of being lost to space.

Question 14

Gross photosynthetic productivity

Answer 14

The efficiency in which all the plants in a given area use the light energy available to them to produce sugars.

Question 15

Global warming

Answer 15

A sustained increase in earths average surface temperature.

Question 16

Global nitrogen cycle

Answer 16

The movement of nitrogen among terrestrial ecosystems, the oceans, and the atmosphere.

Question 17

Grazing food chain

Answer 17

The ecological network of herbivores and the predators and parasites the consume them.

Question 18

Global water cycle

Answer 18

The movement of water among terrestrial ecosystems, oceans, and the atmosphere.

Question 19

Groundwater

Answer 19

Any water below the land surface.

Question 20

Consumer

Answer 20

Any organism that cannot synthesize reduced organic compounds from inorganic sources and that must obtain them by eating other organisms.

Question 21

Net primary productivity

Answer 21

In an ecosystem, the total amount of carbon fixed by photosynthesis over a given time period minus the amount oxidized during cellular respiration.

Question 22

Nitrogen fixation

Answer 22

The incorporation of atmospheric nitrogen into forms such as ammonia or nitrate which can be used to make up many organic compounds.

Question 23

Primary producer

Answer 23

Any organism that creates its own food by photosynthesis or from reduced inorganic compounds and that is a good source for other species in its ecosystem.

Question 24

Primary Decomposers

Answer 24

A Decomposers that consumes detritus from plants.

Question 25

Primary consumer

Answer 25

An herbivore; an organism that eats plants, algae, or other primary producers.

Question 26

Secondary consumer

Answer 26

A carnivore; an organism that eats herbivores.

Question 27

Watersheds

Answer 27

The area drained by a single stream or river.

Question 28

Food chain

Answer 28

A relatively simple pathway of energy flow through a few species, each at a different trophic level, in an ecosystem.

Question 29

Pyramid of production

Answer 29

A pyramid that shows the production or turnover of biomass at each trophic level.

Question 30

Secondary production

Answer 30

Consumption of primary producers by herbivorous consumers.