1. What is a biogeochemical cycle? a.

Any of the various chemical circuits occurring in an ecosystem, involving both biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem. 2. What must happen for a biogeochemical cycle to function properly? a. Matter must be recycled continually 3. What does bio mean in biogeochemical cycles? a. Bio means life 4. What does geo mean in biogeochemical cycles? a. Geo means earth 5. Snow, hail and ran are forms of what? a. Precipitation 6. What is it called when plants release water vapor into the air in the water cycle? a. Evapotranspiration 7. What is photosynthesis? a. The process by which plants use light energy to make sugars and other organic food molecules from carbon dioxide and water. 8. This is the processes whereby certain organisms obtain energy from organic molecules. a. Cellular respiration 9. True or False? Animals can uptake nitrogen directly from the air? a. False 10. What do animals have to eat to get their nitrogen? a. Plants and animals 11. Name four examples of biogeochemical cycles. a. The carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the phosphorus cycle, and the water cycle 12. What are three major processes, in the water cycle, that are driven by solar energy and continuously move water between the land, the oceans, and the atmosphere? a. Precipitation, Evaporation, and Transpiration from plants. 13. Why does the water cycle have a global character? a. There is a large reservoir of water in the atmosphere. 14. What is a major ingredient of all organic molecules? a. Carbon 15. What is the carbon cycles main abiotic reservoir? a. The atmosphere 16. What is mainly responsible for the cycling of carbon between the biotic and abiotic world? a. The reciprocal metabolic processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. 17. What is a key element in all ecosystems? a. Nitrogen 18. Define nitrogen fixation. a. The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to nitrogen compounds that plants can absorb and use. 19. Define phosphorylation. a. It is the transfer of a phosphate group, usually from ATP, to a molecule.

20. What would happen to the carbon cycle if all the detritivores suddenly "went on strike" and stopped working? a. Carbon would accumulate in organic mass, the atmospheric reservoir of carbon would decline, plants would eventually be starved for CO2, and photosynthesis would cease. 21. After absorbing the dissolved phosphate ions in the soil what do the plants build them into? a. Organic Compounds 22. Define abiotic reservoir. a. The part of an ecosystem where a chemical accumulates or is stockpiled outside of living organisms 23. How does energy flow differ from chemical cycling? a. Energy flow enters and leaves an ecosystem, chemical cycling recycles chemicals within the ecosystem. 24. Define detritivore. a. An organism that derives its energy from organic wastes and dead organisms. 25. What is another name for detritivores? a. Decomposers 26. Define amino acid. a. An organic molecule 27. What do amino acids contain a. They contain a carboxyl group and an amino group. 28. What do amino acids serve as? a. They serve as the monomer of proteins 29. What do some chemical elements require before they are available to plants as inorganic nutrients? a. Processing by certain microorganisms. 30. What can a portion of chemical cycling bypass? a. The biotic components 31. Over the short term, why does phosphorus cycling tend to be more localized than carbon nitrogen, or water cycling? a. Because phosphorus is cycled almost entirely within the soil rather than being transferred over long distances via atmosphere. 32. What cycle is condensation part of? a. The water cycle 33. What cycle contains cellular respiration? a. The carbon cycle 34. Why is nitrogen essential to life? a. It is necessary for the production of proteins. 35. How do denitrifying bacteria complete the nitrogen cycle? a. They convert soil nitrate into atmospheric N2 36. How is carbon dioxide made by producers and consumers? a. It is made through cellular respiration. 37. What is cellular respiration the storage of?

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a. It is the storage of potential energy What can cells use the storage of potential energy for? a. Cells can use it to perform work What does a chemicals specific route through an ecosystem vary with? a. It varies with the particular element and trophic structure of the ecosystem. What is the main reservoir for chemicals that are not very mobile and thus cycle almost entirely locally? a. Soil What are the two main categories that carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and water cycles can be classified into based on how mobile the chemicals are within environments? a. Local and Global Define consumer. a. An organism that obtains its food by eating plants or by eating animals that have eaten plants. Define producer. a. An organism that makes organic food molecules from carbon dioxide and water, and other inorganic raw materials. What cycle(s) would go in the category of local? a. Phosphorus cycle What cycle(s) would go in the category of global? a. Carbon, nitrogen, and water cycles