Trophic Levels
What are the 5 trophic levels and what do they consume as food at each level?
producer (photosynthesis), primary (herbivores), secondary (omnivores), tertiary(carnivores), decomposer (dead things).
Where could I commonly find water in the environment?
Atmosphere, groundwater, ocean
what is human impact when we are talking about ecology?
The effects humans have on the natural environment due to our lifestyle choices that release excessive amounts of certain elements like carbon into to atmosphere. usually meant as a bad thing, but human impact can also include environment restoration projects and animal sanctuaries.
Whats the difference between a food web and food chain?
a food web is a combination of all food chains in an ecosystem. all food chains interact with each other. Food chain is just a single organism at each trophic level being eaten by something at the next level.
what is a carbon footprint
How our lifestyle choices release carbon and other green house gases into the atmosphere.
what is the 10% rule? where does the energy go?
only 10% of energy will be transferred to the next level through consumption. The other 90% is released to the environment through bodily systems like the metabolic process, as well as heat.
What is a carbon sink? and give an example.
Something that absorbs carbon from the atmosphere and stores it for a long period of time. Forests- photosynthesis, oceans- dissolves it and stores in water and organisms, soil- within organic matter(dead things).
What are the causes of air pollution?
burning fossil fuels, vehicle emissions, agriculture processes, industrial emissions.
What is the name of an organism at the top of a food web? What makes it different from other organisms in the food web?
Apex predator, has no predators, top of food web.
Why is it important to be mindful about our carbon footprint?
slows climate change, protects ecosystems and biodiversity, improves air quality, preserves natural resources.
Explain the importance of the triangle shape in trophic levels.
When discussing energy the triangle accurately shows how the amount of energy at each levels drastically decreases as you go up in the levels. When we consider biomass the triangle may be inverted depending on the ecosystem being drawn (forest, ocean)
How does phosphorus get into rocks and how does it get released?
when something dies it is buried and decomposes under sediment buildup. Over a long period of time the material has been compressed into rocks and as they are unburied, or pushed to the surface they begin to erode releasing the stored phosphorus back into the atmosphere.
what does reforestation do to an ecosystem?
helps prevent erosion, creates new habitats, increases biodiversity.
what is the importance of producers in a food web?
it supports all other levels because they make their own food and provide food to all other organisms, either directly or indirectly.
what can using solar panels do to benefit your carbon foot print?
it generates electricity without burning fossil fuels. improves air quality , is sustainable.
why does a bear has the eating habits it does?
A bear is a high level consumer which means it will be either a carnivore or an omnivore based on where it lives and what resources are available. It will also need to consumer more because its position in an energy period means it will receive less energy from its food meaning it will eat more to get enough energy to live.
How does nitrogen reach a plant and how does the plant use it?
nitrogen fixing bacteria absorb nitrogen gas from the atmosphere, changing it into ammonia, then going through nitrification to make nitrite or nitrate. this is absorbed by the plant to assist in making proteins, go through photosynthesis, and growth and reproduction
Can human impact be good? Explain
varying answers
What would happen to an ecosystem if decomposers were removed from the food web?
Organic material wouldn't be broken down and plants wouldn't get the nutrients from the soil they need to grow so ecosystem would slowly start to struggle.
what does diet have to do with carbon footprint?
raising and processing meat products tends to produce more carbon emissions than plant based diets, but both diets release some emissions through production. So both have some addition of carbon to the environment.
What would be the result of removing frogs from a freshwater river ecosystem? Be thorough and specific.
Answers will vary
draw a picture of one biogeochemical cycle with labels and explain each step.
first drawing done gets to answer the question.
answers vary
how can our impact on the environment effect the energy being transferred to each trophic level?
If we continue to add to carbon foot print/ poorly impacting the environment less energy is produced by plants which allows less energy to be put through the levels. if there is a lot of air pollution less sunlight reaches plants.
why is it important animals can consume more than one organism as food?
each organism has a niche fundamental and realized this allows an animal to adapt to its environment and eat more than one thing due to limiting resources in an area.
what is one of the biggest contributions to our carbon footprint and what are some solutions?
burning of fossil fuels for energy. (transportation, electricity, heat)
solutions will vary