Levels of Ecological Organization
Biosphere, biome, ecosystem, community, population, or organism?
single owl in a forest
organism
True or false: Ivy is a producer.
True
True or false: A food web is a set of interconnected food chains within an ecosystem.
True
____% of energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next when an organism is consumed.
10%
True or false: A hurricane is a biotic factor.
false
Biosphere, biome, ecosystem, community, population, or organism?
tropical rainforest
biome
Producer, consumer, or decomposer?
deer
consumer
What do the arrows in a food chain or food web represent?
flow of energy
If 10% of the energy from one trophic level is transferred to the next, where does the other 90% go?
used up or lost to environment
True or false: Invasive species are originally from an area, but eventually start to overpopulate and take over the area.
False
Biosphere, biome, ecosystem, community, population, or organism?
group of owls in a forest
Describe the diet of an omnivore.
plants and animals
All food chains and food webs start with _____.
producers
How are herbivores and carnivores different?
Herbivores primarily consume plants. Carnivores primarily consume animals.
True or false: All of the energy at one trophic level of an ecosystem makes it to the next trophic level.
False
Biosphere, biome, ecosystem, community, population, or organism?
group of owls, mice, and grasses living together in a forest ecosystem
community
produce it themselves
Kelp -> Plankton -> Tuna -> Shark
If tuna were removed from the ecosystem represented by the food chain above, what would likely happen to the kelp?
Its population size would decrease, since plankton would likely increase in population size and consume more kelp.
Gopher tortoises are a keystone species in many Alabama ecosystems. What does this mean?
Gopher tortoises are very important to the health and function of the ecosystem; they are part of the "glue that holds the ecosystem together"
Explain how biotic and abiotic factors are different.
Biotic factors are living things that affect their environment. Abiotic factors are nonliving things that affect their environment.
Biosphere, biome, ecosystem, community, population, or organism?
owls, mice, grasses, rocks, soil, and streams found in a forest
ecosystem
Why are decomposers important to an ecosystem?
Recycle material from decaying organisms back into a usable form
Do you think that relationships in real-world ecosystems are more accurately represented by food chains or food webs? Explain.
Food webs - feeding relationships are not normally linear, since most organisms eat or are eaten by more than one thing.
Why do you think that energy in an ecosystem is represented by a pyramid and not another shape, like a square or a circle?
Pyramids show that energy decreases as it is transferred up through different trophic levels.
If the producers in an ecosystem contain 1,500 J of energy, about how much is found in secondary consumers?