Food Webs and Energy Flow
This microscopic aquatic organism makes its own food and serves as a producer in a food web.
phytoplankton
This term describes the largest population an ecosystem can support over time with the resources available.
Carrying Capacity
In a food web, this consumer eats both plant material and animals. The raccoon is one example.
omnivore
After a disease was eliminated, Serengeti buffalo numbers fluctuated mostly between 55,000 and 64,000, suggesting this approximate carrying capacity.
60,000 buffalo
In a pyramid with grasses at level one, insects feeding on the grasses occupy this level. (hint its a number)
trophic level two
In a freshwater food web with phytoplankton at the base, this organism among frogs, small fish, phytoplankton, and great blue herons is at the highest trophic level and has the least energy available.
great blue heron
If grasses at the base of an energy pyramid contain 5,000 kilocalories, this amount is available to grizzly bears after three transfers, using the 10% rule.
5 kilocalories