1. the theory that chance is involved in evolution and that variation within a species is accidental. 2. the belief that chance rather than mere determinism operates in the cosmos. Cf. uniformitarianism. 1. Philosophy. a doctrine that the universe is governed only by rigid, unexceptionable law.
Share this set. an organism that produces its own nutrients from inorganic substances or from the environment instead of consuming other organisms. Autotroph. an organism that produces its own nutrients from inorganic substances or from the environment instead of consuming other organisms.
An autotroph is an organism that produces complex organic compounds from simple inorganic molecules using energy from light or inorganic chemical reactions. Autotrophs are the producers in a food chain.Plants and other organisms which carry out photosynthesis are photoautotrophs (or phototrophs). Bacteria which derive energy from oxidizing inorganic compounds (such as hydrogen sulfide, ammonium and ferrous iron) are chemoautotrophs, and include the lithotrophs.hey take energy from the environment (in the form of sunlight or inorganic chemicals) and use it to create carbon-based organic molecules. Other organisms, called heterotrophs, take in autotrophs as food to carry out such functions.