Honors Bio - Chapter 7 Bio

Autotroph/Producer

Autotroph/Producer

An organism that makes its own food (often by photosynthesis), thereby sustaining itself without eating other organisms or their molecules; An organism that makes organic food molecules from CO2, H2O, and other inorganic molecules.

Chemoautotroph

An organism that obtains both energy and carbon from inorganic chemicals. Makes its own organic compounds from CO2 without using light energy.

Chlorophyll

A green pigment located within the chloroplasts of plants and algae and in the membranes of certain prokaryotes. Participates directly in the light reactions, which convert solar energy to chemical energy.

Chromatography

The separation of a mixture by passing it in a solution or as a vapor through a medium in which the components move at different rates.

Epidermis

The tissue system forming the protective outer covering of leaves, young stems, and young roots.

Granum/Grana

A stack of membrane-bounded thylakoids in a chloroplast. The sites where light energy is trapped by chlorophyll and converted to chemical energy during the light reactions of photosynthesis.

Guard Cells

Specialized epidermal cells in plants that regulate the size of a stoma, allowing gas exchange between the surrounding air and photosynthetic cells in the leaf.

Heterotroph

An organism that obtains organic food molecules by eating other molecules or substances derived from them; a consumer or a decomposer in a food chain.

Light Reactions

The first of two stages in photosynthesis; the steps in which solar energy is absorbed and converted to the chemical energy of ATP and NADPH, releasing oxygen in the process.

Mesophyll

Leaf cells specialized for photosynthesis; a leaf’s ground tissue system

Mobile Phase

The fluid that flows through a chromatography system, moving the materials to be separated at different rates over the stationary phase.

NADP+/NADPH

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate; an electron acceptor that, as NADPH, temporarily stores energized electrons produced during the light reactions.

Palisade Layer

A layer of parallel elongated cells below the epidermis of the leaf.

Photoautotroph

An organism that obtains energy from sunlight and carbon from CO2 by photosynthesis.

Photon

A fixed quantity of light energy. The shorter the wavelength of light, the greater the energy.

Photophosphorylation

The production of ATP by chemiosmosis during the light reaction of photosynthesis

Photosynthesis

The process by which plants, algae, and some protists and prokaryotes convert light energy to chemical energy that is stored in sugars made from carbon dioxide and water.

Photosystem

A light-capturing unit of a chloroplast’s thylakoid membrane, consisting of a reaction-center complex surrounded by numerous light-harvesting complexes.

Reaction Center Complex

The site in the chloroplast that receives the energy trapped by the chlorophyll and accessory pigments and initiates the electron transport process.

Rf Value

The ratio of the distance moved by the solute to the distance moved by the solvent.

Stationary Phase

The strip or piece of paper that is placed in the solvent.

Stoma/Stomata

The microscopic pores in the shoot epidermis of a plant

Stroma

The dense fluid within the chloroplast that surrounds the thylakoid membrane and is involved in the synthesis of organic molecules from carbon dioxide and water.

Thylakoid Membrane

The sight of the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis with the photosynthetic pigments embedded directly in the membrane.

Thylakoid Space

The space on the inside of the thylakoid.

Vasculature

System of tubes that connect all parts of the plant to transport water and nutrients from one part of the plant to the other.