BIOL 600 Study Guide - Comprehensive Final Exam Guide - Wireless Access Point, Oxygen, Protein

• School: University of Maryland
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIOL 600
• Professor: Kyle Smith

Document Summary

The chloroplasts of plants use a process called photosynthesis to capture light energy from the sun and convert it to chemical energy stored in sugars and other organic molecules. Plants and other autotrophs are the producers of the biosphere. Photosynthesis nourishes almost all the living world directly or indirectly: all organisms use organic compounds for energy and for carbon skeletons, organisms obtain organic compounds by one of two major modes: autotrophic nutrition or heterotrophic nutrition. Autotrophs produce their organic molecules from co2 and other inorganic raw materials obtained from the environment: autotrophs are the ultimate sources of organic compounds for all heterotrophic organisms, autotrophs are the producers of the biosphere. Autotrophs can be separated by the source of energy that drives their metabolism: photoautotrophs use light as a source of energy to synthesize organic compounds. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, some other protists, and some prokaryotes. Chemoautotrophs harvest energy from oxidizing inorganic substances, such as sulfur and ammonia.