Ecology Chapter 5

Scholastic Jam Ecology Review

PracticeQuestions

Ecological Succession, Energy flow, and Cycles Study online at quizlet.com/_wi7jf

1.	autotrophs		An organism that produces its own nutrients from inorganic substances or from the environment instead of consuming other organisms.
2.	Biodiversity		When an ecosystem has many varieties of plants and animals.
3.	carbon cycle		Circulation and reutilization of carbon includes photosynthesis and respiration.
4.	cellular respiration		Process that releases energy by breaking down glucose and other food molecules in the presence of oxygen
5.	CHNOPS		Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, and sulfur. Those are the 6 atoms that make up 97% of living tissue.
6.	Climax Community		The last stage of succession when an ecosystem has regained its equilibrium, and is now both stable and balanced.
7.	consumers		An organism that obtains energy and nutrients by feeding on other organisms or their remains.
8.	decomposers		Fungi and bacteria that break complex organic material into smaller molecules
9.	dynamic equilibrium		A state of balance between continuing processes.
10.	Ecological Succession		Occurs when an ecosystem becomes unstable; It is a gradual and natural change in an ecosystem over hundreds or thousands of years.
11.	Ecosystem		An ecological community made up of all the living populations in an area along with the nonliving parts of that environment.
12.	heterotrophs		An organism that gets its energy (organic food molecules) by consuming other organisms.
13.	Lichens		A tiny organism that often is both algae and fungi that help to break down the bare rock into soil particles during primary succession.
14.	major organic molecules		1.Carbohydrates 2.Lipids(fats) 3.Proteins 4.Nucleic Acids;
15.	nirtogen cycle		Essential to life because it is necessary for the manufacture of proteins and DNA. One of the most important and complex cycles
16.	photosynthesis		Carbon dioxide + water ----> glucose + oxygen
17.	Pioneer Species		The first organisms to grow in a bare area such as a rock. Examples include mossess and lichens.
18.	Primary Succession		Begins in an area without soil; or in an area of newly exposed rock, sand , or lava; or any area that has not been occupied previously by a living community. 19. producers A group of organisms that produce their own food through photosynthesis. 20. Secondary Succession Occurs when a stable and balanced ecosystem (climax community) is disturbed. This disturbance could be in the form a forest fire, flood, change in climate, volcanic eruption, or another disaster.