Life Processes Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards on Life Processes covering nutrition, respiration, transportation, and excretion in plants and animals based on lecture notes.

Nutrition

The process by which an organism takes food and utilizes it.

Autotrophic Nutrition

The mode of nutrition in which an organism prepares its own food.

Autotrophs

Organisms that carry out autotrophic nutrition, such as green plants.

Photosynthesis

The process by which green plants prepare food.

Chloroplast

The site of photosynthesis in the leaf, containing the green pigment chlorophyll.

Chlorophyll

The green pigment in chloroplasts that absorbs light energy during photosynthesis.

Stomata

Tiny pores present in the epidermis of leaf or stem through which gaseous exchange and transpiration occur.

Guard Cells

Cells surrounding stomatal pores whose turgidity controls the opening and closing of the pores.

Heterotrophic Nutrition

The mode of nutrition in which an organism takes food from another organism.

Saprophytic Nutrition

A mode of heterotrophic nutrition in which the organism secretes digestive juices on food to digest it before ingestion.

Holozoic Nutrition

A mode of heterotrophic nutrition in which digestion happens inside the body of the organism after food is ingested.

Parasitic Nutrition

A mode of nutrition where an organism lives inside or outside another host organism and derives nutrition from it.

Pseudopodia

Protrusions of the cell membrane of Amoeba used to surround a food particle and form a food vacuole.

Food Vacuole

A vacuole formed in Amoeba containing food particles and water, where digestive enzymes are secreted to carry out digestion.

Alimentary Canal

The passage comprising the mouth, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine.

Peristaltic Movement

Rhythmic contraction of muscles of the lining of the alimentary canal to push food forward.

Stomach

A bag-like, highly muscular organ in the human digestive system that churns food.

Gastric Juice

Digestive secretion from gastric glands containing Pepsin, $\text{HCl}$, and Mucus.

Pepsin

An enzyme in gastric juice that breaks down proteins in the stomach.

Villi

Finger-like projections in the small intestine that help in the absorption of food into the blood.

Egestion

The removal of undigested rest material from the body via the anus.

Respiration

An oxidation reaction in which living organisms utilize food by oxidizing carbohydrates to produce energy.

ATP

Adenosine triphosphate; the form in which energy released during respiration is stored in mitochondria.

Aerobic Respiration

Respiration that takes place in the presence of oxygen within the mitochondria.

Anaerobic Respiration

Respiration that takes place in the absence of oxygen within the cytoplasm.

Human Respiratory System

The system comprising nasal passage, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi, lungs, bronchioles, and alveoli responsible for gas exchange.

Diaphragm

A membrane separating the thoracic chamber from the abdominal cavity that helps control the breathing mechanism.

Heart

A muscular pumping organ composed of cardiac muscles consisting of four chambers.

Systole

The contraction of cardiac muscles in the heart.

Diastole

The relaxation of cardiac muscles in the heart.

Arteries

Thick-walled blood vessels that carry oxygenated blood from the heart to different organs (except pulmonary arteries).

Pulmonary Arteries

Arteries that carry deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs.

Veins

Thin-walled blood vessels with valves that carry deoxygenated blood from organs to the heart (except pulmonary veins).

Pulmonary Veins

Veins that carry oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart.

Capillaries

Blood vessels that have single-celled walls.

Blood

A connective tissue playing the role of carrier of substances, composed of plasma, blood cells, and platelets.

Lymph

A colourless tissue fluid leaked from blood capillaries containing plasma, proteins, and white blood cells, but lacking red blood cells.

Double Circulation

Circulation in which blood passes through the human heart twice during one cardiac cycle.

Cardiac Cycle

One complete heartbeat in which all four chambers of the heart contract and relax once.

Xylem

Vascular tissue composed of tracheids, xylem vessels, xylem parenchyma, and xylem fibre responsible for unidirectional transport of water and minerals.

Phloem

Vascular tissue composed of sieve tubes, companion cells, phloem parenchyma, and fibres responsible for bidirectional transport of food.

Transpiration

The loss of water in the form of vapour from the aerial parts of a plant.

Translocation

The transfer of food made in leaves to other parts and storage organs of the plant via phloem.

Excretion

The removal of harmful waste from the body.

Human Excretory System

An excretory system composed of a pair of kidneys, ureters, urinary bladder, and urethra.

Kidney

A bean-shaped organ located near the vertebral column in the abdominal cavity that filters waste using nephrons.

Nephron

The basic functional filtering unit of the kidney.

Glomerular Filtration

The initial step of urine formation where nitrogenous wastes, glucose, water, and amino acids filter into Bowman's capsule.

Tubular Reabsorption

The step in urine formation where useful substances from the filtrate are reabsorbed back by blood capillaries surrounding the nephron.

Haemodialysis

The process of purifying blood using an artificial kidney in patients suffering from kidney failure.