Terms to know
What is the difference between biotic and abiotic?
Biotic= living
Abiotic= nonliving
What do we call the first trophic level, which makes its own food through photosynthesis?
producers (autotrophs)
What is the starting point of almost all food chains?
producers
What cycle moves water between the land, atmosphere, and oceans?
water cycle
A type of symbiosis where both species benefit from the relationship is called _________.
Mutualism
Wolves, which eat deer, belong to which trophic level?
secondary consumers
A rabbit eats grass, and a fox eats the rabbit. Which organism is the secondary consumer?
fox
In the carbon cycle, what process do plants use to take in carbon dioxide?
photosynthesis
These levels contain producers, followed by primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers?
trophic levels
Organisms that eat only plants belong to what trophic level?
primary consumers (herbivores)
What is the main difference between a food chain and a food web?
A food chain shows one energy pathway, while a food web shows many interconnected pathways.
Which cycle depends on bacteria to convert atmospheric gas into usable forms for plants?
nitrogen cycle
Animals that eat plants and animals are called _______?
What type of organisms break down dead matter and recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem?
decomposers
In the chain grass → cow → human, what is the cow’s role?
primary consumer
In the carbon cycle, what process releases carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere from animals?
respiration
What do detritivores eat?
dead organic material, especially plant detritus
In a food chain with grass → grasshopper → frog → snake → hawk, what trophic level does the snake represent?
tertiary consumer (third-level consumer)
In a food web, what would happen if all the producers died?
The whole web would collapse because no energy enters the system.
In the nitrogen cycle, what is the process where bacteria change nitrogen gas into ammonia?
nitrogen fixation