Terms Chapter 6

Question 1

Absorption

Answer 1

The movement of nutrients to the interior portion of the body.

Question 2

Acid Mine Drainage

Answer 2

The outflow of acidic water from (sometimes abandoned) metal mines or coal mines.

Question 3

Aerosols

Answer 3

Tiny solid particles or liquid droplets that remain suspended in the atmosphere for a long time.

Question 4

Anoxic

Answer 4

absence of oxygen

Question 5

Available (related to nutrients)

Answer 5

Chemical forms of nutrients that organisms can use.

Question 6

Biogeochemical Cycles

Answer 6

the flow of matter among storages in the biological, geological, and chemical systems of Earth

Question 7

Biota

Answer 7

All living organisms

Question 8

Carbohydrates

Answer 8

Organic molecules that contain only carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.

Question 9

Deforestation

Answer 9

The act or process of clearing forests

Question 10

Denitrification

Answer 10

The loss of gaseous nitrogen from soil through biological or chemical means

Question 11

Digestion

Answer 11

Breaking complex forms of organic molecules into smaller forms.

Question 12

Essential

Answer 12

Molecules that an organism cannot synthesize from its constituents.

Question 13

Eutrophication

Answer 13

the ecosystem response to the addition of artificial or natural substances, mainly phosphates, through detergents, fertilizers, or sewage, to an aquatic system

Question 14

Fats

Answer 14

Organic molecules that contain only carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen and can store large amounts of energy per unit mass.

Question 15

Flow

Answer 15

Movements of energy or materials between storages in a system.

Question 16

Kwashiorkor

Answer 16

Severe malnutrition caused by a diet with insufficient protein that is found primarily in young children.

Question 17

Legumes

Answer 17

Plants that have symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixers.

Question 18

Liebegs Law of the Minimum

Answer 18

The growth rate of plants often is determined by the nutrient that is least abundant or least available relative to the needs of the plant.

Question 19

Limiting Nutrient

Answer 19

The nutrient that is in least supply relative to the quantity required by an autotroph.

Question 20

Mineralization

Answer 20

conversion of organic forms of nutrients to inorganic forms

Question 21

Nitrification

Answer 21

A process whereby ammonia is oxidized to nitrite and then to nitrate by bacterial or chemical reactions.

Question 22

Nitrogen Fixation

Answer 22

A biological or chemical process by which molecular nitrogen, from the atmosphere, is converted to organic or available nitrogen.

Question 23

Nonessential

Answer 23

Molecules an organism can synthesize from its constituents.

Question 24

Non spontaneous Flow

Answer 24

movement of energy or matter against the tendency toward a greater state of entropy

Question 25

Nutrients

Answer 25

Chemicals that are needed by living organisms.

Question 26

Proteins

Answer 26

Large complex molecules made up of one or more chains of amino acids.

Question 27

Redfield Ratio

Answer 27

The ratio of nitrogen atoms to phosphorus atoms that are needed by autotrophs.

Question 28

Residence Time

Answer 28

the time that an atom spends in a storage pool

Question 29

Spontaneous Flow

Answer 29

movements of matter or energy that are consistent with the tendency toward a greater state of entropy

Question 30

Storage

Answer 30

A system part where energy or materials stay for an extended period.

Question 31

Symbiosis

Answer 31

the intimate living together of two dissimilar organisms in a mutually beneficial relationship

Question 32

Tailings

Answer 32

material that remains after all metals considered economic have been removed from ore during milling

Question 33

Transpiration

Answer 33

The process by which water absorbed by plants, usually through the roots, evaporates from the plants’ surface, principally from the leaves.

Question 34

Unavailable (in reference to nutrients)

Answer 34

Forms of nutrients that cannot be used by an autotroph.