Biology simplified

 Producer vs Consumer: Producer - Makes their own food Consumer - Eat other organisms for energy Cycling of Nutrients and flow of Energy: Nutrients are cycled meaning that they go from producers to consumers and then back to producers when they die off.  Unlike nutrients, energy is not cycled. It flows in one direction: from the sun to producers to consumers and then out of the ecosystem.  Types of energies: Kinetic energy - Energy in motion (ex: Roller coaster moving down a track) Potential energy - Energy stored in an object due to its position (ex: Roller coaster on the top of a hill) Chemical energy - type of potential energy; Energy released during a chemical reaction (ex: lighting a match) Light energy - Energy that is taken from the sun  Free energy: Energy available to do work  Endergonic vs Exergonic reaction :   Endergonic: Builds a polymer by storing energy --> reactants have lower free energy than products Exergonic: Breaks a polymer by relea...

Transport of water: Just as any other molecule, water has to pass through the cell membrane too, however this movement of water is so important that it is given a special name - Osmosis  Turgor pressure : Turgor pressure is any type force in plants that pushes against the cell wall Active transport -  Many cellular processes require transporting solutes across membrane to where their concentration is higher. Moving a solute against its concentration gradient requires energy. In active transport, a transport protein uses energy to pump solute against its gradient across a cell membrane. Other proteins in membrane: Enzymes - Speed up chemical reactions Transport proteins - Assist movement of ions/molecules across the membrane  Receptor proteins - Trigger a change in cell activity by responding to an outside signal Adhesion proteins - Help hold cells together in animal tissues and sense their position