Food Webs & Chains
What is the term for an organism that produces its own food, forming the base of most food chains?
What is a producer (or autotroph)?
What is the term for all the living organisms in an ecosystem?
What are biotic factors?
What is the ultimate source of energy for nearly all ecosystems on Earth?
What is the sun (or solar energy)?
What is the continuous movement of essential elements through an ecosystem called?
What is a biogeochemical cycle (or nutrient cycle)?
What is the term for a close and long-term interaction between two different species in an ecosystem?
What is symbiosis?
What type of consumer feeds directly on producers?
What is a primary consumer (or herbivore)?
Name one example of a non-living (abiotic) component of an ecosystem.
What is sunlight, water, temperature, soil, or air?
Through what process do producers convert light energy into chemical energy?
What is photosynthesis?
How does deforestation impact the water cycle within an ecosystem?
What is it can reduce transpiration, increase runoff, and potentially lead to drought or flooding?
What type of symbiotic relationship benefits both interacting species?
What is mutualism?
In a food web, several interconnected ______ show the flow of energy through an ecosystem.
What are food chains?
What abiotic factor is essential for photosynthesis to occur?
What is sunlight?
What type of organism obtains energy by breaking down dead organic matter?
What is a decomposer (or detritivore)?
What is the role of decomposers in the carbon cycle?
What is they release carbon back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide through respiration during decomposition?
Give an example of a mutualistic relationship in an ecosystem.
What is bees pollinating flowers, or nitrogen-fixing bacteria in legume roots, or clownfish living in anemones?
What is the trophic level occupied by an animal that eats both herbivores and carnivores?
What is the tertiary consumer (or omnivore)?
How might a significant change in an abiotic factor, like rainfall, impact the biotic components of an ecosystem?
What is it can lead to changes in plant growth, animal populations, and overall biodiversity?
In an energy pyramid, which trophic level contains the most energy?
What is the producer level?
Explain how the nitrogen cycle is essential for plant growth in an ecosystem.
What is nitrogen is a key component of proteins and nucleic acids, and the nitrogen cycle converts atmospheric nitrogen into forms that plants can absorb through their roots?
What type of symbiotic relationship benefits one species and neither harms nor helps the other?
What is commensalism?
What happens to the amount of available energy as you move up each trophic level in a food pyramid?
What is it decreases (or about 10% is transferred)?
Explain the difference between a habitat and a niche, identifying which is biotic and which includes both biotic and abiotic factors.
What is a habitat is the place where an organism lives (including both biotic and abiotic), while a niche is the organism's role in the ecosystem (including its interactions with biotic and abiotic factors)?
Describe how energy flows through a food chain, starting with the producer and ending with a tertiary consumer, mentioning the form of energy at each step.
What is light energy is converted to chemical energy by producers, which is then transferred as chemical energy to primary consumers, then to secondary consumers, and finally to tertiary consumers, with some energy lost as heat at each transfer?
Describe how human activities are significantly altering the natural balance of the carbon cycle and the potential consequences for ecosystems.
What is the burning of fossil fuels releases large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, leading to increased greenhouse effect and climate change, which can disrupt ecosystems in numerous ways?
Describe the symbiotic relationship of parasitism, providing an example and explaining how it differs from predation.
What is parasitism is a relationship where one organism (the parasite) benefits by living on or in another organism (the host), harming it. An example is a tick on a deer. It differs from predation because a predator typically kills and consumes its prey, while a parasite usually keeps its host alive (at least for a while) to continue benefiting.