Chapter 42: Ecosystems Study Guide

In a typical food web, how many links apart are the species from each other?

95% of food webs contain species that are two links apart prey-> predator Each arrow is considered a link; direction of arrow is irrelevant when counting number of links

Biomass

A renewable energy source from living or recently living plant and animal materials which can be used as fuel

Food Web

A set of cross-connecting food chains

Ecosystem

A biological community and its environment

Detritivore

A consumer that feeds on small bits of organic material

Food Chain

A description of who eats whom in one path of energy flow through an ecosystem

What is commonly used to describe or illustrate predation relationships?

A food web?

What trophic level would you find decomposers?

Actually, on a separate trophic level consisting of organism such as bacteria and fungi that break down dead organisms and waste materials into nutrients usable to the producers.

Examples of primary producers

Algae, Phytoplankton, Large Plants

Primary Production

Amount of light energy converted to chemical energy by autotrophs.

Omnivore

An animal or person that eats food of both plant and animal origin.

Carnivore

An animal that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging

Herbivore

An animal that only eats plants

Heterotroph (noun) or Heterotrophic (adjective)

An organism requiring organic compounds for its principal source of food.

Decomposer

An organism that feeds on wastes and remains; breaks organic material down into its organic subunits

Consumer

An organism that obtains energy and carbon by feeding on tissues, wastes, or remains of other organisms

Producer

An organism that obtains energy directly from the environment and carbon from inorganic sources; an autotroph

Autotroph (noun) or Autotrophic (adjective)

Any organism capable of self-nourishment by using inorganic materials as a source of nutrients and using photosynthesis or chemosynthesis as a source of energy, as most plants and certain bacteria and protists.

What are the similarities and/or differences between autotrophs, heterotrophs, producers and consumers?

Autotrophs: Organisms that can produce their own food from the substances available in their surroundings using light (photosynthesis) or chemical energy (chemosynthesis). Heterotrophs: Organisms that can't synthesize their own food and rely on other organisms- both plants and animals- for nutrition Producers: Organisms that make their own food using energy and nonbiological raw materials from the environment; autotrophs Consumers: Organisms that obtain energy and carbon by feeding on tissues, wastes, or remains of other organisms; a heterotroph

Provide examples of carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, detritivores & decomposers and what do they eat for food?

Carnivores: Wolf, Lion, Etc. Remains of their prey or other animals. Herbivores: Giraffe, Zebra, Etc. Grass and other plants. Detritivores: Millipedes, Dung Beetles, Earthworms. Small parts of dead plant minimal matter as well as animal waste products. Decomposers: bacteria, fungi, etc. Decaying matter - dead plants and animals and in the process they break them down and decompose that when I happens, they released me a chance and mineral salts back into the soil - which then will be used by plants.

What is the consumer level and trophic level of a cow?

Cows are primary consumers and they are in trophic level number two

What is the difference between detritivores and decomposers?

Detritivores: Organisms that feed on small bits of organic material

What causes the inefficiency of energy transfer between trophic levels?

Energy is being lost as metabolic heat when the organisms from one trophic level are consumed by organisms from the next level. Some energy is stored in molecules most organisms can't break down.

Does a grazing food web or a detrital food web have a greater amount of energy flowing though it? Explain why.

Grazing food webs have a greater amount of energy flowing through it. It starts with green plants, the producers. The plants are then grazed by herbivorous animals.

Where does the cycling of energy between a community and its physical environment take place?

In an energy pyramid?

energy flow

the flow of energy from an ecosystem to an organism and from one organism to another

What is the minimum trophic level of a carnivore?

Level 4 or 5

detritus

Nonliving organic maters such as remains of dead organisms, feces, fallen leaves, dead wood.

Describe what is happening in A,B,C and D in this diagram:

One-way flow of energy (yellow arrows) and nutrient cycling (blue arrows) in the most common type of ecosystem. All light energy that enters the system eventually returns to the environment as heat energy that is not reused. By contrast, nutrients are essentially recycled.

Primary Producers

Organisms in an ecosystem that produce biomass from inorganic compounds (autotrophs). Usually, these are photosynthetically active organisms (plants, cyanobacteria, protists and a number of other unicellular organisms; see article on photosynthesis).

Provide examples of primary consumers, secondary consumers and tertiary consumers:

Primary Consumers (rabbits or deer) Secondary Consumers (tiger or snake) Tertiary Consumers: (tigers, lions, human being)

What are the trophic levels of primary consumers, secondary consumers and tertiary consumers?

Primary Consumers: Level #2 Secondary Consumers: Level #3 Tertiary Consumers: Level #4

Secondary, Tertiary, or Quaternary Consumers

Secondary Consumer: An organism, primarily an animal, that eats primary consumers. Secondary consumers can be classified into one of two groups: carnivores, meat eaters, or omnivores, plant and meat eaters. Tertiary Consumer: A animal that obtains its energy by eating both primary and secondary consumers. They are usually carnivorous predators but they can also be omnivores. Quaternary Consumers: Animals that eat Tertiary Consumers and are carnivores. An example is a hawk that eats owls.

Detrital Food Chains (Detritus Food Chain)

Starts with

Grazing Food Chains

Starts with green plants which are the producers. The green plants or producers are then grazed by herbivorous animals that are then eaten by carnivores.

How would you describe the flow of energy in an ecosystem?

Sublight>Producers>Primary Consumers>Secondary Consumers>Tertiary Consumers>Quaternary Consumers. Ten percent of energy in one trophic level goes to the next.

What is the trophic level of an energy pyramid's base? Explain why the base is the widest (contains the largest amount of organisms)

The base is trophic level 1. Every time biomass moves up the pyramid, 10% is lost, hence the 10% rule.

Primary Trophic Level

The first trophic level, consisting of primary producers such as plants

Trophic Level(s)

The position of an organism in a food chain

cellular respiration

The process of breaking sugar into a form of the cell can use as energy. Cellular respiration takes in food and uses it to create ATP, a chemical was the cell uses for energy

Primary Production

The rate at which an ecosystem's producers capture and store energy

Secondary Trophic Level

The second trophic level, consisting of herbivores that eat plants

Tertiary Consumer Level

The third trophic level, consisting of carnivores that eat herbivores

What is the primary job of decomposers?

To break down dead plants and animals

What trophic level would you find primary producers?

You'll find primary producers in the first trophic level

energy pyramid

way of showing how energy moves through a food chain