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Plant Processes
SOL 7.5
Term | Definition |
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photosynthesis | is the process used by plants, algae and certain bacteria to harness energy from sunlight and turn it into chemical energy. |
respiration | a process in living organisms involving the production of energy, typically with the intake of oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide from the oxidation of complex organic substances. |
stoma | any of the minute pores in the epidermis of the leaf or stem of a plant, forming a slit of variable width that allows movement of gases in and out of the intercellular spaces. |
guard cells | each of a pair of curved cells that surround a stoma, becoming larger or smaller according to the pressure within the cells. |
chlorophyll | a green pigment, present in all green plants and in cyanobacteria, responsible for the absorption of light to provide energy for photosynthesis. Its molecule contains a magnesium atom held in a porphyrin ring. |
chloroplast | (in green plant cells) a plastid that contains chlorophyll and in which photosynthesis takes place. |
light dependent reaction | The first major set of processes in photosynthesis, in which light energy is initially converted into chemical energy |
light independent reaction | or dark reactions, of photosynthesis are chemical reactions that convert carbon dioxide and other compounds into glucose. |
energy pyramid | is a graphical representation designed to show the biomass or bio productivity at each trophic level in a given ecosystem. |
producer | are organisms that make their own food; they are also known as autotrophs. They get energy from chemicals or the sun, and with the help of water, convert that energy into useable energy in the form of sugar, or food. The most common example of a producer |
mitochondrion | an organelle found in large numbers in most cells, in which the biochemical processes of respiration and energy production occur. It has a double membrane, the inner layer being folded inward to form layers (cristae). |
autotrophs | an organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances from simple inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide. |
consumers | pertains to any of the organisms in most trophic levels in a food chain, except for producers and decomposers. |
herbivore | is an animal that gets its energy from eating plants, and only plants. |
omnivores | is a kind of animal that eats either other animals or plants. |
heterotrophs | is an organism that cannot produce its own food, relying instead on the intake of nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. |
carnivores | is an animal that eats a diet consisting mainly of meat, whether it comes from live animals or dead ones (scavenging). |
decomposers | are organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms, and in doing so, they carry out the natural process of decomposition. |
spongy layer | of a leaf is in the center mesophyll, between the palisade mesophyll layer and the lower epidermis of the leaf. |
palisade layer | f a leaf is part of the mesophyll, the middle layer of the leaf. The other layer of the mesophyll is the spongy layer. The parenchyma cells that make up the palisade layer are oblong, tightly-packed together, and filled with chloroplasts. |