Pyramid Energy
The bottom of an energy pyramid has this group — they make their own food.
What are producers?
The first link in every food chain.
What is a producer?
A food web is basically a bunch of these connected together.
What are food chains?
A species that has a huge impact on its ecosystem, even if it’s small in number.
What is a keystone species?
In The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Bowser’s lava world has almost no plants or animals — showing what happens when this base of the energy pyramid is gone.
What are producers?
The top of the pyramid has the least of this — that’s why there aren’t 100 lions per zebra!
What is energy?
The arrows in a food chain show this direction.
What is the flow of energy?
The more connections in a food web, the higher this measure of variety.
What is biodiversity?
Sea otters are keystone species because they eat this spiky kelp-muncher.
What is a sea urchin?
In Finding Nemo, the sharks say “Fish are friends, not food.” That’s breaking which type of relationship?
What is a predator-prey relationship?
Only about this percent of energy moves up each level.
What is 10%?
A rabbit eating grass is this kind of consumer.
What is a primary consumer?
If a food web loses a producer, what happens to consumers?
What is they decrease or starve?
Coral reefs are called the “rainforests of the sea” because they increase this.
What is biodiversity?
In The Lion King, Mufasa says, “We are all connected in the great Circle of Life.” That’s basically describing this scientific idea.
What is a food web?
Energy that doesn’t move up the pyramid is usually lost as this.
What is heat?
A hawk that eats a snake that eats a mouse is this level.
What is a tertiary consumer?
This type of organism can appear at more than one trophic level in a food web.
What is an omnivore?
Living parts of an ecosystem are called these.
What are biotic factors?
In Jumanji, the jungle overgrows the town when there are no humans — showing what happens when this part of a food web disappears?
What is the top consumer or predator?
If producers have 10,000 kcal, the tertiary consumers only have this much energy left.
What is 10 kcal?
The chain: algae → zooplankton → small fish → big fish → shark — which level is the small fish?
What is the secondary consumer?
A lionfish invading a coral reef would disrupt the food web because it’s an example of this.
What is an invasive species?
Nonliving parts like sunlight and temperature.
What are abiotic factors?
In Minecraft, when you remove all the sheep, wolves starve. That’s an example of what ecological effect?
What is a trophic cascade?