Biology 20 - Chapter 1 : Energy and matter exchange in the biosphere

Question 1

Matter

Answer 1

Anything that occupies space and has mass.

Question 2

Biosphere

Answer 2

The zone on the earth that contains life.

Question 3

Ecosystem

Answer 3

Biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

Question 4

Trophic levels

Answer 4

Trophic levels describe feeding relationships in an ecosystem.

Question 5

Autotroph

Answer 5

Also called producers (“self-feeders”). Only 1-2% of energy from the sun is captured by autotrophs.

Question 6

Heterotroph

Answer 6

Also called consumers. They consume producers or other consumers.

Question 7

Photoautotroph

Answer 7

Organisms that use light energy and inorganic carbon to produce organic materials.

Question 8

Chemoautotroph

Answer 8

Organisms that use inorganic energy sources to release energy for their use.

Question 9

Photosynthetic

Answer 9

“Photosynthetic organisms” means organisms (producers) that capture energy from the sun by undergoing photosynthesis.

Question 10

Chemosynthetic

Answer 10

“Chemosynthetic organisms” means organisms that capture energy from inorganic sources by undergoing chemosynthesis.

Question 11

Producer

Answer 11

Also called autotrophs (“self-feeders”). Only 1-2% of energy from the sun is captured by producers.

Question 12

Consumers

Answer 12

An organism that cannot produce its food and must eat other plants and/or animals (producers) to get energy.

Question 13

Decomposer

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Carnivore

Answer 14

An organism that mostly eats meat, or the flesh of animals.

Question 15

Herbivore

Answer 15

An organism that mostly feeds on plants.

Question 16

Omnivore

Answer 16

An organism that eats plants and animals.

Question 17

Primary Producer

Answer 17

Organisms, such as plants and phytoplankton, that can produce their own food through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis (autotrophs).

Question 18

Primary Consumer

Answer 18

Organisms that eat producers.

Question 19

Secondary Consumer

Answer 19

Organisms that eat primary consumers.

Question 20

Tertiary Consumer

Answer 20

Organisms that eat secondary consumers.

Question 21

Quaternary Consumer

Answer 21

Organisms that eat tertiary consumers.

Question 22

First law of thermodynamics

Answer 22

Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. However, energy can change forms, and energy can flow from one place to another.

Question 23

Second law of thermodynamics

Answer 23

Each time energy is transferred within a system, some of it is lost (usually in the form of heat). No energy transformation is ever 100% efficient.

Question 24

Food Chain

Answer 24

A food chain is a straight line that shows who eats who in an ecosystem.

Question 25

Food Web

Answer 25

A food web is a tangled web that shows all the connected relationships between different organisms and what they eat.

Question 26

Pyramid of Numbers

Answer 26

Each bar represents a different trophic level. The width of the bars represents the number of organisms at that level.

Question 27

Pyramid of Energy

Answer 27

They show the amount of energy that is transferred through each trophic level.

Question 28

Pyramid of Biomass

Answer 28

Pyramids of biomass show the relative dry mass of living or once-living organisms per unit area in an ecosystem

Question 29

Biomagnification

Answer 29

The process by which toxins are passed from one trophic level to the next (and thereby increase in concentration) within a food web.

Question 30

Bioaccumulation

Answer 30

The process by which toxins enter the food web builds up in individual organisms.