Chapter 5 Review
• How does energy from the sun enter an
ecosystem?
• When plants use light energy to make sugar
molecules.
What is photosynthesis?
The process by which plants, algae,
and some bacteria use sunlight,
carbon dioxide, and water to
produce carbohydrates and
oxygen.
What types of organisms perform
photosynthesis?
Plants, algae, and some bacteria.
What do organisms use during
photosynthesis?
Sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water.
What is a producer?
An organism that can make organic
molecules from inorganic molecules.
What is the other term for a producer?
Autotroph
What does “auto” mean?
Self
What does “troph” mean?
Food or feed
What is a consumer?
An organism that eats other organisms
or organic matter instead of producing
its own nutrients or obtaining
nutrients from inorganic sources.
What is the other term for a
consumer?
Heterotroph
What does “hetero” mean?
Different
What are the producers in a deepocean ecosystem?
Bacteria
What compound do deep-ocean
producers use?
Hydrogen sulfide
What process do deep-ocean
producers use to get energy?
Chemosynthesis
What are the types of consumers?
Herbivore, carnivore, omnivore,
decomposer, detritivore
What is cellular respiration?
The process of breaking down
carbohydrates to yield energy.
What is used during cellular
respiration?
Oxygen, glucose
What is produced during cellular
respiration?
Carbon dioxide, water, energy
Every time an organism eats another
organism, what is transferred?
Energy
What is a food chain?
A sequence in which energy is
transferred from one organism to the
next as each organism eats another
organism.
What is a food web?
A diagram showing many feeding
relationships that are possible in an
ecosystem.
What is a trophic level?
One of the steps in a food chain or
food pyramid; examples include
producers, primary, secondary, and
tertiary consumers.
All primary consumers are which
type(s) of consumer?
Herbivores; or omnivores
Each time energy is transferred,
energy is lost in the form of what?
heat
Each layer of an energy pyramid
represents what?
Trophic level
Which level of a pyramid contains the
most energy?
Lowest level (Producer)
Why does an energy pyramid become
smaller at the top?
There are fewer numbers of animals as
it goes up because energy is lost at
each level, supporting a limited
amount of organisms.
What limits the number of trophic
levels in an ecosystem?
The amount of producers
How much energy is transferred from
one trophic level to the next?
10%
What is the carbon cycle?
The movement of carbon from the
nonliving environment into living
things and back to the environment.
Why is carbon important?
It is the essential component of
proteins, fats, and carbohyrates.
How do producers participate in the
carbon cycle?
They take carbon from the air (carbon
dioxide) and convert it into
carbohydrates.
How do consumers participate in the
carbon cycle?
They eat plants to obtain carbon from
the plant and release carbon dioxide
into the air.
How do dead organisms play a role in
the carbon cycle?
Carbon is stored in the bodies of
organisms, when they die the carbon
is released into the environment.
How are fossil fuels part of the carbon
cycle?
Fossil fuels contain carbon and when
they are burned, they release the
carbon into the air.
What is the nitrogen cycle?
The process in which nitrogen
circulates among the air, soil, water,
plants, and animals in an ecosystem.
What are nitrogen-fixing bacteria?
Bacteria that converts atmospheric
nitrogen into ammonia
Why do organisms need nitrogen?
To build proteins.
What role do decomposers have in the
nitrogen cycle?
Break down decaying plants and
animals, as well as plant and animal
wastes.
What is the phosphorus cycle?
The cyclic movement of phosphorus
from the environment to organisms
and then back to the environment.
What is phosphorus?
An element that is part of many
molecules that make up the cells of
living organisms.
Where do plants get phosphorus?
Absorb it from the soil through roots.
Where do animals get phosphorus?
By eating plants or eating other
animals that have eaten plants.
How does phosphorus enter the soil?
When rocks erode.
What is ecological succession?
Gradual process of change and
replacement of the types of species in
a community.
What is primary succession?
A type of succession that occurs on a
surface where no ecosystem existed
before.
Why is primary succession slower than
secondary succession?
It begins where there is no soil.
What is a pioneer species?
A species that colonizes an
uninhabited area that starts an
ecological cycle in which many other
species become established.
Pioneer species that colonize rock are
usually what to things?
Lichens and bacteria
What is secondary succession?
Succession that occurs on a surface
where an ecosystem previously
existed.
What is a climax community?
The final, stable community in
equilibrium with the environment.
What is old-field succession?
A type of secondary succession that
occurs when farmland is abandoned.
How are natural fires important?
Minor forest fires remove
accumulations of brush and deadwood
that would otherwise contribute to
major fires that burn out of control.
Be able to describe the carbon,
nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles.
Why is there no oxygen cycle?
Oxygen takes part in other cycles and
is not a cycle of its own.
Be able to make a food chain and a
food web.