DETAILED QUESTIONS, DETAILED ANSWER EXPLANATIONS
AND RATIONALES, COMPREHENSIVE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE
CONCEPT REVIEW, APPLICATION-BASED LEARNING
EXERCISES, CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES, TEST-TAKING
STRATEGIES, AND COMPLETE EXAM PREPARATION
TOOLKIT – 2026/2027 LATEST UPDATED EDITION
Organic Nutrient
An organism that contains carbon and hydrogen
Inorganic Nutrient
An organism that does not contan carbon and hydrogen
Phototroph
An organism that gains energy from light through photosynthesis
Heterotroph
An organism that must obtain carbon in an organic form - they are dependent on
other life forms
Chemotroph
An organism that gains energy from chemical compounds - this means they eat
things. Harvesting energy from the things they eat.
,Autotroph
An organism that gets its source of carbon from carbon dioxide an iorganic carbon
source - referred to as the "self feeder"; They are NOT nutritionally dependent on
other living things
Photoautotroph
An organism that gains its energy from light rays and its carbon source from CO2
in the air
Examples of a photoautotroph?
Photosynthetic organisms - algae, plants, Cyanobacteria
What kind of organism is the basis of most food webs?
Photoautotrophs
Chemoautotroph
An organism that gets its energy from eating things and gets its carbon source from
inorganic compounds
Examples of a Chemoautotroph
Only certain bacteria/archaea - methanogens, deep-sea vent bacteria
Lithoautotroph
gets energy from inorganic materials - can actually digest rocks
Chemoheterotrophs
,derive energy from chemical energy in the food consumed; carbon source also
comes from the food consumed
What are humans classified as?
Chemoheterotrophs
Aerobic Respiration
the principal energy-yielding pathway in where the final electron acceptor in the
electron transport chain is oxygen (O2)
Osmosis
movement of water across a permeable membrane
Simple Diffusion
The movement of molecules from a higher concontration to a lower concentration
Facilitated Diffusion
a molecule binds to a specific carrier protein that changes the shape of the cell and
carries the molecule across the membrane
Active Transport
uses ATP to transport things into the cell against the concentration gradient
Group Translocation
form of active transport that couples a transport of a nutrient with its conversion to
another form
Permeases Pumps:
, these structures pump things in and out of the cell - most of the time its waste
going out of the cell
Endocytosis
The transport of large molecules cell via the vacuoles enveloping or swallowing
the molecules into the cell for further digestion
Exocytosis
The opposite of endocytosis - releasing whatever is in the vacuole out of the cell
Phagocytosis
the ingestion of solid matter into the cell like bacteria or another cell
Pinocytosis
the ingestion of liquid matter into the cell
Cardinal Temperatures
the range of temperatures for the growth of a given microbial species
Psychrophile
a microbe that can grow and reproduce in low/cold temperatures - optimal temp is
15 degrees celsius
Mesophile
a microbe that best at moderate temperatures - optimal temp is 20-40 degrees
celsius
Examples of Mesophiles