Biology 2483A Lecture 4: coping with environmental variation- ecology
11 Dec 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Autotrophs: assimilate radiant energy from sunlight (photosynthesis), or from inorganic compounds (chemosynthesis): the energy is converted into chemical energy stored in the bonds of organic molecules. Heterotrophs: obtain their energy by consuming organic compounds from other organisms. Some heterotrophs consume non-living organic matter: this energy originated with organic compounds synthesized by autotrophs, parasites and herbivores consume live hosts, but do not necessarily kill them, predators capture and consume live prey animals. Some plants are holoparasites: they have no photosynthetic pigments and get energy from other plants (heterotrophs, dodder is a holoparasite that is an agricultural pest and can significantly reduce biomass in the host plant. Hemiparasite: hybrid between the 2, mistletoe is an example. It is photosynthetic but obtains nutrients, water and some of its energy from host plants. Sea slugs have functional choloroplasts that are taken up from the algae that the slug eats. Sunlight provides the energy to take up co2 and synthesize organic compounds.
