D Block Collaborated Vocabulary: Organism Survival, Ecology, and Biochemistry

Vocabulary terms and definitions covering ecology, energy flow, biomolecules, and enzyme kinetics based on the D Block collaborated unit list.

Niche

A specific role or function in a community/ecosystem.

Trophic level

The position of an organism in a food chain.

Heterotroph

An organism that cannot make its own food and takes energy from other sources.

Autotroph

An organism that can make its own food/energy.

Biotic factor

A part of the environment that is living.

Abiotic factor

A part of the environment that is non-living.

Population

A group of the same species together.

Community

A group of different species living and interacting in the same environment.

Ecosystem

All of the living and nonliving factors interacting in an environment.

DNA

The genetic makeup of all living organisms, which tells them how to function.

Solitary

A style an organism can have that lives/hunts alone.

Competition

A struggle between living things, with fighting over things such as food, water, and other resources.

Energy

The capacity or ability to do work or cause change.

Calorie

A measure of energy: the amount of energy it would take to raise the temperature of one kg of water by $1^\text{o}\text{C}$.

Kilocalorie

The calorie number on food labels, also known as a large calorie or a food calorie; the amount of energy needed to heat 1 kilogram of water one degree Celsius at sea level, equal to $1000$ calories.

Basal metabolic rate

Calories needed to survive if you did not digest food or do any physical activity.

Calorie count

Measures how much energy is stored in an item's chemical bonds.

Metabolism

The change from food into energy for the body.

Sedentary Lifestyle

A lifestyle where someone fails to meet recommendations of CPC ($150\text{ min}$ of moderate exercise or $75\text{ min}$ of vigorous exercise per week).

Fat/Lipid

Lipids are a large group of natural organic compounds that do not dissolve in water. Fats are a specific type of lipid, known as triglycerides, that are usually solid at room temperature.

Protein

A macronutrient used for the construction of muscles, enzymes, immune defense molecules, and more.

Carbohydrate

Organic molecules made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen that serve as a primary source of energy for living organisms.

10% rule

At each trophic level, $90\%$ of energy is lost; only $10\%$ is passed to the next trophic (feeding) level.

Macromolecule

Large, complex molecules essential for life, with main types being carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.

Polymer

Large molecules made out of many monomers.

Monomer

Building blocks that make a polymer (repeating chemical units that connect to form a polymer).

Polysaccharide

Large complex carbohydrates (more than 2) made of long chains of simple sugar molecules, such as starch, cellulose, and glycogen.

Monosaccharide

The simplest form of a carbohydrate, often called simple sugars, such as glucose and fructose.

Disaccharide

Simple sugar molecule made of two monosaccharides joined together, with main types including sucrose, lactose, and maltose.

Nucleic acid

Essential biomolecules that store and transmit genetic information.

Net Energy

Energy gained from food after energy was lost during hunting.

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)

A high-energy, primary energy-carrying molecule found in all living cells that acts as the primary energy currency.

Enzyme

A biological catalyst that speeds up chemical reactions in living cells without being used up, most of the time made of protein.

Carbohydrate's monomer

Monosaccharide.

Nucleic acids monomer

Nucleotides.

Proteins monomer

Amino acids.

Lipids monomer

Fatty acid and glycerol.

Dehydration synthesis

A reaction where monomers are joined by the removal of OH from one monomer and removal of H from the other at the site of bond formation.

Hydrolysis

A reaction where monomers are released by the addition of a water molecule, adding OH to one monomer and H to the other.

ATP's parts

A base (adenine), a sugar (ribose), and three phosphates.

Phosphorylation

When a phosphate phosphorylates a molecule; in the case of a protein, it alters the protein's shape to allow molecules through against the typical gradient.

Amyoplast

Organelles in plant cells that store large amounts of starch.

Substrate

What goes into an enzyme; the reactant when held by the enzyme.

Product

The result; what comes out of an enzyme or the result of substrates after being released from the enzyme.

Catalase

A molecule that speeds up a chemical reaction without being a reactant or product.

Active Site

The site on an enzyme that binds to a substrate.

Optimum

Temperature or pH conditions at which an enzyme works best.

Allosteric Inhibitor

An inhibitor that binds to an enzyme at a site separate from its active site.

Competitive inhibitor

An inhibitor that fits into the active site of an enzyme and blocks the substrate from being able to react.

Non-competitive inhibitor

An inhibitor that works by changing the shape of the enzyme's active site, making it so that the substrate cannot be changed into products.

Denaturation

When an enzyme loses its 3D shape and becomes a flat ribbon of amino acids, no longer functioning; happens when exposed to too much heat, too much salt, or a pH outside of its optimal range.

Exothermic

A chemical reaction that releases energy to its surroundings as heat.

Endothermic

A chemical reaction that absorbs energy from its surroundings, dropping the temperature.

pH

A scale that shows the acidity or basicity of a liquid.

Reactants

Broader term for the input of a reaction that gets turned into the output (input/reactant = substrate, output = product in an enzymatic reaction).

Activation Energy

The amount of energy needed to break the bond of the reactant molecules so their atoms can be used to form the product molecules during a chemical reaction.

Cofactor

A specific ion that is required for an enzyme to function.

Enzyme-inhibitor complex

A temporary or permanent complex formed when an inhibitor molecule binds with an enzyme, blocking its catalytic activity.

Lock and Key

Another name for the enzyme and substrate model.