Ecosystem Basics
What is a biotic factor?
Living parts of an ecosystem (e.g. plants, animals etc.)
What organism group produces its own food
Producers
Parasitism, Commensalism, Mutualism
These organisms produce energy through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.
What are autotrophs?
Two or more organisms of the same species.
What is a population?
Give me one example of an abiotic factor
Sunlight, temperature, water etc.
Name an organism that is a secondary consumer
Snake, small carnivore, etc.
In mutualism, one organism benefits while the other _______?
benefits
These organisms are herbivores, therefore they are called ______________ consumers.
What is primary?
Includes all of the area in which life is found on Earth.
What is the biosphere?
What does a food web show that a food chain does not?
Multiple energy pathways
What percentage of energy usually moves up each trophic level
About 10%
In parasitism, one organism benefits while the other is _______ ?
harmed
These organisms are typically at the top of the food chain. They are called ____________ consumers.
What is tertiary?
One individual
What is a organism?
Define a niche in an ecosystem
An organism's role and how it interacts with its environment
Why do higher trophic levels have less energy available?
Energy is lost as heat, movement, life processes
In commensalism, one organism benefits while the other is ________?
unaffected/not affected
This is a way to show how energy in a food web is allocated. Usually there is a large base and a pointed top.
What is an energy pyramid?
Two or more populations of species.
What is a community?
Explain how the removal of a top predator (like a wolf) can cause a trophic cascade in an ecosystem. Give an example of one possible effect.
Prey populations will increase, leading to overgrazing and collapse of plant populations. Affects other species that depend on plants for food - disrupting entire food web.
Describe the flow of energy through an ecosystem starting with the sun
Sun --> producers --> consumers --> decomposers
Define symbiosis.
Interaction between two organisms living close together in which at least one organism benefits
Create a food web with 6 organisms.
Answers will very
Includes all of the living and non-living things in an area.
What is an ecosystem?