Lecture 1- Food is an Ecosystem Flashcards
Anaerobic Metanogens
Eat CO2
Phototrophs
Eat sunlight/CO2, produce O2
Anaerobic Metanogens
Make CH4
Aerobic Methanotrophs
Eat CH4
Aerobic Methanotrophs
Makes CO2
Ecosystem
is a series of interactions between the environment and the organisms that inhabit it
Food ecosystems are composed of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. What are intrinsic factors?
Factors inherent to the food (pH, water activity, nutrients)
Definition of extrinsic factors
Factors external to the food (temperature, gaseous atmosphere)
What is the usual growth of bacteria (think of graph)
Lag phase: plateau
Log, or exponential growth, phase
Stationary phase
Death, or logarithmic decline, phase
Autotrophic
Carbon from CO2 through carbon fixation
Heterotrophic
Carbon from organic compounds
Mixotrophic
can combine auto and heterotrophy
Chemotrophic
energy is obtained from external chemical compounds
Phototrophic
energy is obtained from light
Lithotrophic
reducing equivalents come from inorganic compounds
Organotrophic
reducing equivalents come from organic compounds
Aerobic organisms
use O2 as a terminal electron acceptor (this is the most energetically favorable reaction)
Fermentation
use organic carbon as a terminal electron acceptor, therefore, fermentative organisms are considered anaerobes
Facultative anaerobes
an organism that can grow with or without oxygen
What are the 4 things that bacteria need to have to grow and divide?
- Must have carbon for building the array of chemical substances of which they are composed (anabolism)
- Bacteria must have a source of energy for living (catabolism)
- Must have a source of electrons to be used in energy conservation and biosynthetic reactions
- Must have an electron acceptor
Denitrification
nitrate as an electron acceptor