| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Autotroph | an organism that produces its own nutrients from inorganic substances or from the environment instead of consuming other organisms |
| Photosynthesis | the process by which plants, algae, and some bacteria use sunlight, carbon dioxide and water to to produce carbohydrates and oxygen |
| Heterotroph | an organism that obtains organic food molecules by eating other organisms or their byproducts and that cannot synthesize organic compounds from inorganic materials |
| Light Reactions | the initial reactions in photosynthesis, which are triggered by the absorbtion of light by photosystems I and II and include the passage of electrons along the electron transport chains, the production of NADPH and oxygen gas, and the synthesis of ATP through chemiosmosis |
| Calvin Cycle | a biochemical pathway of photosynthesis in which carbon dioxide is converted into glucose using ATP |
| Chloroplast | an organelle found in plant and algae cells where photosynthesis occurs |
| Thylakoid | a membrane system found within chloroplasts that contains the components for photosynthesis |
| Granum | a stack of thylakoids in a chloroplast |
| Stroma | in plants, the solution that surrounds the thylakoids in a chloroplast |
| Pigment | a substance that gives another substance or mixture its color |
| Chlorophyll | a green pigment that is present in most plant cells, that gives plants their characteristic green color, and that reacts with sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to form carbohydrates |
| Carotenoid | a class of pigments that are present in the thylakoid membrane of plants and that aid in photosynthesis |
| Photosystem | in the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts, a cluster of chlorophyll and other pigment molecules that harvest light energy for the light reactions of photosynthesis |
| Primary Electron Acceptor | in chloroplasts, an acceptor of electrons lost from chlorophyll a; found in the thylakoid membrane |
| Electron Transport Chain | a series of molecules, found in the inner membranes of mitochondria and chloroplasts, through which electrons pass in a process that causes protons to build up on one side of the membrane |
| Chemiosmosis | in chloroplasts and mitochondria, a process in which the movement of protons down their concentration gradient across a membrane is coupled to the synthesis of ATP |
| Carbon Fixation | the synthesis of organic compounds from carbon dioxide, such as in photosynthesis |
| Stoma | one of many openings in a leaf or a stem of a plant that enable gas exchange to occur |
| C4 pathway | a carbon-fixing process in which carbon dioxide is bound to a compound to form a four-carbon intermediate |
| CAM pathway | a water-conserving, carbon-fixing process; ____ plants take in carbon at night and fix it into various organic compounds and release it during the day |
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