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