Obtaining Carbon Compounds

What happens when inorganic nutrients enter the food chain?

They are converted into carbon compounds (carbs and proteins)

What happens to these carbon compounds?

They are locked inside the tissues of living plants and animals

What happens to these nutrients when an organism dies?

They are released

Decomposition

The process of breaking down dead organisms and waste products, carried out by decomposers

What does decomposition enable?

The recycling of nutrients

What do saprotrophs release enzymes to do?

Break down complex insoluble carbon compounds into soluble ones (releasing inorganic nutrients)

What do the saprotrophs absorb?

Some of the nutrients themselves using active transport

What type of organisms are usually producers in a food chain?

Autotrophs

What type of organisms are usually consumers in a food chain?

Heterotrophs

What do all organisms need?

Carbon-containing compounds (amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamines, minerals, fatty acids)

Photoautotrophs use sunlight as an energy source, what is the reaction?

Photosynthesis to produce chemical energy

Autotrophs use sulfur, hydrogen, iron sulfides, hydrogen or ammonia as energy sources, what is the reaction?

Oxidation to synthesise chemical energy in the form of carbon compounds

Heterotrophs synthesize organic compounds primarily through which processes?

Ingestion, digestion, absorption, assimilation, and elimination.

Consumer - type of organism

Animals

Consumer - digestion of food

Internally

Consumer - sources of food and mechanism of intake

Live or recently dead matter is ingested and broken down

Consumer - products of digestion

Amino acid, monosaccharides and fatty acids

Saprotrophs - type of organism

Fungi, bacteria

Saprotrophs - digestion of food

Externally

Saprotrophs - sources of food and mechanism of intake

Dead and decaying matter is digested by externally released enzymes and absorbed.

Saprotrophs - products of digestion

Amino acid, monosaccharides, fatty acids

What do living organisms need energy for?

• synthesise large molecules

• active transport

• vesicular transport

• ATP