UNIT 1.3 biology

hervibores

A heterotroph that feeds only on plants. FEED ON GRASS AND OTHER PLANTS.

scavengers

Animals that do not kill for food, instead they eat on animals that have already died; they play a beneficial role in the ecosystem.

carnivores

Animals that eat only other animals.

food chain

is a simple model that scientists use to show how matter and energy move through an ecosystem.

trophic level

Each organism in a food chain represents a feeding step, in the passage of energy and materials.

food web

Expresses all the possible feeding relationships at each trophic level in a community. REPRESENTS A NETWORK OF INTERCONNECTED FOOD CHAINS.

decomposers

Organisms that break down and absorb nutrients from dead organisms. Break down the complex compounds of dead and decaying plants and animals into simpler molecules that can be more easily absorbed by the decomposers, and by other organisms.

heterotrophs

Organisms that cannot make their own food and must feed on other organisms.

omnivores

Organisms that feed on both animals and plants.

autotrophs

Organisms that use energy from the sun or energy stored in chemical compounds to manufacture their own nutrients.

photosynthesis

Plants use the sun's energy to manufacture food in a process called

10%

The total energy transfer from one trophic level to another is only about

consumers

____ are unable to produce their own food, they obtain nutrients by eating other organisms.

Producers

_____ are at the beginning of a food chain.

sun

ultimate source of energy for all food webs