Primary Producers
All life on Earth depends directly or indirectly on this trophic level.
What is the first trophic level, or primary producers?
This type of organism makes up the second level of the energy pyramid and gets energy by eating producers.
What are primary consumers (herbivores)
These organisms occupy the third trophic level in most food chains.
What are secondary consumers?
These consumers are often at the top of the food chain and eat secondary consumers.
What are tertiary consumers?
The name for each layer of the energy pyramid.
What is a trophic level?
This is the feeding level at the base of the energy pyramid, and it contains 100% of the available energy.
What are producers?
These organisms obtain energy by consuming other organisms and are classified as primary, secondary, or tertiary based on their position.
What are consumers?
This type of consumer eats primary consumers, such as herbivores.
What is a secondary consumer?
If these consumers were removed from an ecosystem, populations of secondary consumers might increase, causing imbalances.
Who are tertiary consumers?
In some ecosystems, this type of organism can act as both a secondary and a tertiary consumer, depending on its diet at the time.
What is an omnivore?
The main source of energy for producers at the bottom of an energy pyramid.
What is the sun?
In a food chain, these animals eat primary consumers and are known as secondary consumers.
What are predators or carnivores?
In a grassland ecosystem, this animal is a classic example of a secondary consumer, often preying on rabbits.
What is a fox?
Tertiary consumers often compete with each other for this limited resource.
What is food
This scientific term refers to the maximum number of tertiary consumers that an ecosystem can support sustainably.
What is carrying capacity?
These are the main primary producers in terrestrial ecosystems.
What are plants?
In a pond ecosystem, this amphibian in its tadpole stage is often a primary consumer.
What is a tadpole?
Secondary consumers help control the population of these organisms, which are found at the second trophic level.
What are primary consumers (or herbivores)?
Tertiary consumers are often considered this, meaning they have few or no natural predators in their ecosystem.
What is an apex predator?
This type of ecological interaction occurs when two tertiary consumers compete for the same prey species.
What is interspecific competition?
In aquatic ecosystems, these simple organisms are the main primary producers.
What are phytoplankton?
In a marine ecosystem, this tiny drifting organism is a primary consumer that feeds on phytoplankton.
What is zooplankton?
This process describes how secondary consumers contribute to the return of nutrients to the environment when they die.
What is decomposition (or nutrient cycling)?
Tertiary consumers are most likely to accumulate these substances, which increase in concentration up the food chain.
What are toxins or pollutants, or heavy metals?
Only this percentage of energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next in an energy pyramid.
What is 10%?