BIO 1500 chapter 5
1. What is an ecosystem?: Community of living organisms and their interactions with their abiotic (non-liv-
ing) environment
2. What is ecosystem ecology?: study of energy flow and the cycling of chemicals among the various
biotic and abiotic components in an ecosystem
3. Regardless of the size of the ecosystem, its dynamics involve two processes
that cannot be fully described by population or community phenomena:: •Energy
flow
• Chemical cycling
4. enters ecosystems as sunlight
Then captured by and converted to energy in
form of compounds: energy, autotrophs, chemical, organoc
5. : make their own food, like plants
,• Then energy is passed to
• -: unable to make their own food; derive nutrients from con-
suming organic compounds of food
• Energy is also dissipated as : Autotrophs, heterotrophs, heat
6. Chemical elements, like Carbon and Nitrogen, are cycled among biotic and
abiotic components of ecosystem. (TRUE OR FALSE): TRUE
7. Photosynthetic and chemosynthetic assimilate these ele-
ments in forms like CO2 (from air, soil, water) and incorporate
them into biomass ( compounds like sugar), some of which is
consumed then by : autotrophs, inorganic, organic, heterothrophs
8. elements return to inorganic forms by of plants, animals,
, and bacteria and fungi that organic wastes and dead organisms-
: metabolism, breakdown
9. organisms (plants and some bacteria) use solar energy to
turn carbon dioxide and water into sugar (food) and oxygen: Photosynthetic
10. chemosynthesis:: bacteria and other organisms, use of energy released by inorganic chemical reactions
(not solar energy) to produce food (sugar); different species use different pathways
11. Chemosynthesis: biological conversion of one or more carbon (usually car-
bon dioxide or methane) and nutrients into matter using the
1. What is an ecosystem?: Community of living organisms and their interactions with their abiotic (non-liv-
ing) environment
2. What is ecosystem ecology?: study of energy flow and the cycling of chemicals among the various
biotic and abiotic components in an ecosystem
3. Regardless of the size of the ecosystem, its dynamics involve two processes
that cannot be fully described by population or community phenomena:: •Energy
flow
• Chemical cycling
4. enters ecosystems as sunlight
Then captured by and converted to energy in
form of compounds: energy, autotrophs, chemical, organoc
5. : make their own food, like plants
,• Then energy is passed to
• -: unable to make their own food; derive nutrients from con-
suming organic compounds of food
• Energy is also dissipated as : Autotrophs, heterotrophs, heat
6. Chemical elements, like Carbon and Nitrogen, are cycled among biotic and
abiotic components of ecosystem. (TRUE OR FALSE): TRUE
7. Photosynthetic and chemosynthetic assimilate these ele-
ments in forms like CO2 (from air, soil, water) and incorporate
them into biomass ( compounds like sugar), some of which is
consumed then by : autotrophs, inorganic, organic, heterothrophs
8. elements return to inorganic forms by of plants, animals,
, and bacteria and fungi that organic wastes and dead organisms-
: metabolism, breakdown
9. organisms (plants and some bacteria) use solar energy to
turn carbon dioxide and water into sugar (food) and oxygen: Photosynthetic
10. chemosynthesis:: bacteria and other organisms, use of energy released by inorganic chemical reactions
(not solar energy) to produce food (sugar); different species use different pathways
11. Chemosynthesis: biological conversion of one or more carbon (usually car-
bon dioxide or methane) and nutrients into matter using the
