Photosynthesis & Producers
What is the process called in which producers use sunlight to change carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and glucose?
Photosynthesis
Give one example of abiotic matter and one example of biotic matter mentioned in the review.
Abiotic: air (carbon dioxide). Biotic: living organisms or energy storage molecules like starch/fat.
What gas is produced when organisms release energy during cellular respiration?
Carbon dioxide
According to the review, in a closed ecosystem, does the total amount of carbon change? Answer yes or no.
No
Name two examples of producers in an ecosystem.
Examples: plants, algae (or any organism that makes its own energy storage molecules).
True or false: Carbon dioxide is part of abiotic matter.
True
Define cellular respiration using the vocabulary from the review (one sentence)
Cellular respiration: the chemical reaction between oxygen and glucose that releases energy (ATP) into cells.
If biotic carbon increases in a closed ecosystem, what must happen to abiotic carbon? Explain in one sentence
Abiotic carbon decreases by the same amount
Explain how changing the amount of sunlight affects how many energy storage molecules producers can make.
Less sunlight → producers make fewer energy storage molecules (like glucose). More sunlight → producers can make more (assuming CO2 available).
If abiotic carbon (carbon dioxide) increases in the air, what happens to the amount of carbon available for producers to make energy storage molecules?
More abiotic CO2 → more carbon available to producers for making energy storage molecules.
Who gets energy by breaking down dead matter and returns carbon back to abiotic pools? Use the vocabulary word.
Decomposers
Give an example (one or two sentences) of a process that would cause carbon to move from biotic to abiotic matter.
Cellular respiration (or decomposition) releases carbon from biotic matter into abiotic carbon dioxide.
During photosynthesis, carbon moves from which type of matter to which type of matter? Use the vocabulary terms from the review.
From abiotic (carbon dioxide) to biotic (energy storage molecules in producers)
Provide a short explanation of why carbon is considered conserved in a closed ecosystem (use vocabulary from the review)
Because carbon cannot be produced or used up in a closed ecosystem, increases in one pool mean decreases in another — total stays the same.
Explain how cellular respiration moves carbon from biotic matter to abiotic matter
During cellular respiration organisms break down glucose and release carbon as carbon dioxide into the abiotic air.
Explain how decomposers play a role in maintaining carbon conservation in an ecosystem.
Decomposers break down dead matter, releasing carbon back to abiotic pools (like CO2), which helps cycle carbon.
Describe, step-by-step, how a decrease in abiotic carbon dioxide could change the amount of glucose available in an ecosystem. (Use cause → effect reasoning)
Decrease in abiotic CO2 → less carbon available for producers → producers make fewer energy storage molecules (like glucose) → consumers have less food energy available.
Create a short scenario: abiotic carbon decreases while sunlight stays the same. Predict and explain the chain of effects on producers and consumers.
Abiotic carbon decreases → producers have less carbon to make glucose → less food for consumers → consumer populations could shrink or eat more, affecting biotic carbon distribution.
A student claims that cellular respiration and photosynthesis cancel each other out exactly at all times. Explain why this is an oversimplification and what other processes (from the review) matter for carbon movement.
Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are often linked but not always balanced; decomposition, changes in population sizes, and human impacts can alter carbon flows.
Use the ideas in the review to explain how a large wildfire (which burns many living things) would affect abiotic and biotic carbon in a closed system. Include short cause-and-effect reasoning.
Wildfire burns biotic matter → carbon in living things is released quickly into abiotic pools (carbon dioxide and ash) → biotic carbon decreases while abiotic carbon increases; in a closed system total carbon remains the same but redistributed.