Chapter 3-Basic Needs of Living Things

Question 0

A group of individuals that share certain characteristics distinct from other such groups (robins versus redwing blackbirds, for example). Classified into closely related groups called genera, and they in turn are grouped into families

Answer 0

Species

Question 1

The study of all processes influencing the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions between living things and their environment

Answer 1

Ecology

Question 2

A certain number of individuals living that make up the interbreeding, reproducing group

Answer 2

Population

Question 3

The grouping of populations we observe when studying a forest, grassland, or pond

Answer 3

Biota or Biotic Community

Question 4

The particular kind of biotic community found in a given area (non living, chemical, and physical factors)

Answer 4

Abiotic

Question 5

An interactive complex of communities and the abiotic environment affecting them within a particular area

Answer 5

Ecosystem

Question 6

Transitional regions between ecosystems

Answer 6

Ecotones

Question 7

Clusters of interacting ecosystems like forests, open meadows, and rivers together constitute

Answer 7

Landscapes

Question 8

A digital technology enabling the location and imaging of landscapes by use of satellite signals. It employs hardware, software, and data to display many forms of geographic information

Answer 8

Geographic Information Systems

Question 9

A system of imaging the Earth from satellites, or of accessing data from devices that are distant from the scientist

Answer 9

Remote sensing

Question 10

Large area of Earth’s surface that shares climate and has similar vegetation

Answer 10

Biome

Question 11

The overall ecosystem of Earth. The sum total of all the biomes and smaller ecosystems, which ultimately are all interconnected and interdependent through global processes such as the water cycle and the atmospheric cycle

Answer 11

Biosphere

Question 12

Any factors that vary in space and time, but that are not used up or made unavailable to other species

Answer 12

Conditions

Question 13

Biotic and abiotic factors that are consumed by organisms

Answer 13

Resources

Question 14

The condition or amount of any factor or combination of factors that will produce the best result. For example, the amount of heat, light, moisture, nutrients, and so on that will produce the best plant growth

Answer 14

Optimum

Question 15

The entire span that allows any growth at all

Answer 15

Range of tolerance

Question 16

The points at the high and low ends of the range of tolerance

Answer 16

Limits of tolerance

Question 17

Between the optimal range and the high or low limit of tolerance

Answer 17

Zones of stress

Question 18

A factor that limits growth

Answer 18

Limiting factor

Question 19

The law stating that a system may be limited by the absence or minimum amount (in terms of that needed) of any required factor. Also known as Liebig’s law of minimums

Answer 19

Law of Limiting factors

Question 20

Two or more factors interacting in a way that causes an effect much greater than one would anticipate from each of the two acting separately

Answer 20

Synergistic effects or synergisms

Question 21

The kind of place—defined by the plant community and the physical environment—where a species is biologically adapted to live

Answer 21

Habitat

Question 22

The sum of all of the conditions and resources under which a species can live: what and where it lives, what it feeds on, where it finds shelter and nests, and and how it responds to abiotic factors

Answer 22

Niche

Question 23

Anything that occupies space and has mass

Answer 23

Matter

Question 24

Very small pieces–that are combined to form molecules, which in turn can be combined into more complex structures. The basic building blocks of all matter

Answer 24

Atoms

Question 25

A substance that is made up of one and only one distinct kind of atom

Answer 25

Element

Question 26

The law stating that, in chemical reactions, atoms are neither created nor changed nor destroyed; they are only rearranged

Answer 26

Law of Conservation of Matter

Question 27

Two or more atoms (either the same kind or different kinds) bonded in a specific way

Answer 27

Molecule

Question 28

Any substance (gas, liquid, or solid) that is made up of two or more different kinds of atoms bonded together

Answer 28

Compound

Question 29

The thin layer of gases (including water vapor) separating Earth from outer space

Answer 29

Atmosphere

Question 30

Water in all of its liquid and solid compartments: oceans, rivers, ice, and groundwater

Answer 30

Hydrosphere

Question 31

Earth's crust, made up of rocks and minerals

Answer 31

Lithosphere

Question 32

A solid form of matter made up of regularly repeating units of atoms, ionic compounds, or molecules

Answer 32

Crystal

Question 33

A naturally occurring solid, made by geologic processes; it is a hard, crystalline structure of a given chemical composition

Answer 33

Mineral

Question 34

A mixture of molecules (or ions) of one material in another

Answer 34

Solution

Question 35

The chemical compounds making up the tissues of living organisms

Answer 35

Organic

Question 36

Molecules or compounds with neither carbon-carbon or carbon-hydrogen bonds

Answer 36

Inorganic

Question 37

The organic compounds that make up living organisms, to be distinguished from synthetic organic compounds, like plastics

Answer 37

Natural Organic Compounds

Question 38

Any of a large group of organic compounds that may be synthesized in chemical laboratories and are known by the difficulty with which they degrade in the environment

Answer 38

Synthetic Organic Compounds

Question 39

The ability to move matter. The capacity to do work

Answer 39

Energy

Question 40

Energy in action or motion (light, heat, physical motion, and electric current)

Answer 40

Kinetic Energy

Question 41

Energy in storage

Answer 41

Potential Energy

Question 42

Potential energy contained in chemicals and fuels

Answer 42

Chemical Energy

Question 43

One of the most common energy units. The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram (1 millimeter) of water one degree Celsius

Answer 43

Calorie

Question 44

The empirical observation, confirmed innumerable times, that energy is never created or destroyed but may be converted from one form to another (e.g., electricity to light) [you can't get something from nothing]

Answer 44

Law of Conservation of Energy or First Law of Thermodynamics

Question 45

In an energy conversion, some of the usable energy is always lost [you can't get something from nothing and you can't even break even]

Answer 45

Second Law of Thermodynamics

Question 46

A measure of the degree of disorder in a system (increasing entropy means increasing disorder)

Answer 46

Entropy

Question 47

A loss of electrons, usually accomplished by the addition of oxygen

Answer 47

Oxidation

Question 48

(Primarily green plants) Use light energy to construct their organic constituents from inorganic compounds

Answer 48

Producers

Question 49

In an ecosystem, those organisms that derive their energy from feeding on other organisms or their products

Answer 49

Consumers

Question 50

The chemical process carried on by green plants through which light energy is used to produce glucose from carbon dioxide and water. Oxygen is released as a by-product

Answer 50

Photosynthesis

Question 51

A protein that promotes the synthesis or breaking of chemical bonds

Answer 51

Enzyme

Question 52

Process in which organic molecules may be broken down. Release the energy required for the work done by that cell. Involves the breakdown of glucose

Answer 52

Cell respiration

Question 53

Organisms (fungi, soil insects, bacteria) that feed on dead or decaying organic matter, important in completing the breakdown of organic matter to inorganic constituents

Answer 53

Detritivores

Question 54

The repeated pathway of particular nutrients or elements from the environment through one or more organisms and back to the environment. The cycles include the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the phosphorus cycle, and so on

Answer 54

Biogeochemical cycle

Question 55

The dead organic matter, such as fallen leaves, twigs, and other plant and animal wastes, that exists in any ecosystem

Answer 55

Detritus

Question 56

Phosphate bonded to an organic molecule

Answer 56

Organic phosphate

Question 57

The main reservoir of nitrogen as nitrogen gas in the atmosphere

Answer 57

Nonreactive nitrogen

Question 58

All forms of nitrogen in ecosystems that are usable by organisms, as opposed to the nonreactive nitrogen in the form of nitrogen gas

Answer 58

Reactive nitrogen

Question 59

A number of bacteria and cyanobacteria (nitrogen fixers in aquatic ecosystems) that can convert atmospheric nitrogen into a reactive form of nitrogen

Answer 59

Nitrogen fixation

Question 60

A microbial process that occurs in soils and sediment depleted of oxygen which converts nitrates to nitrogen gas and released back into the atmosphere

Answer 60

Denitrification

Question 61

The detrimental complex of ecological effects brought on by reactive nitrogen (Nr) that has been added to natural systems by the burning of fossil fuels and the fertilization of agricultural crops

Answer 61

Nitrogen cascade

Question 62

A situation in a human-impacted ecosystem where a small action or reaction is the catalyst for a major change in the state of the system

Answer 62

Tipping point

Question 63

Safe limits on a variety of conditions on Earth that, if crossed, could become tipping points and lead to very undesirable changes that would be difficult to reverse

Answer 63

Planetary boundaries