Producers & Energy
What process allows plants to convert sunlight into food?
Photosynthesis
A rabbit that eats grass is a ________.
Primary consumer
What’s the difference between a food chain and a food web?
A food chain is one linear path; a food web shows many interconnected paths.
A lion eating a zebra is an example of ________.
Predation
What do decomposers do in a food web?
Break down dead organisms and waste
What’s another word for “self-feeder”?
Autotroph
What’s a consumer that eats both plants and animals called?
Omnivore
What does “trophic level” mean?
A group of organisms the same number of steps away from the Sun in an energy flow.
Define competition.
When two or more organisms compete for the same limited resource (food, space, water).
Name one common decomposer.
Fungi, bacteria (either works)
Name one aquatic producer.
Answers will varry
Snakes and hawks are usually what level of consumer?
Tertiary consumers
Name two secondary consumers in a terrestrial food web.
Answers may vary
A tick feeding on a human is an example of what relationship?
Parasitism
Why are decomposers important to producers?
They return nutrients to the soil, which producers need to grow.
Why are producers not really “making” energy?
They convert light energy into chemical energy
Give an example of a top-level consumer with no natural enemies.
Answers will vary
What happens if frogs are removed from a food web?
Eagles and snakes lose food → their populations drop; insects overpopulate; plants decrease.
Give an example of mutualism.
Answers may vary
What happens to matter in an ecosystem after decomposition?
Matter is recycled back into living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem.
Explain how energy moves from the Sun to you through a food web.
Sun → plants (producers) → animals (consumers) → humans
Why can the same animal sometimes be a different consumer level in different food chains?
Because an animal’s consumer level depends on what it eats in a given chain
Compare terrestrial and aquatic food webs.
Terrestrial = land-based organisms, Aquatic = water-based organisms; both have producers, consumers, and decomposers.
Why is predation important for ecosystem balance?
Predation keeps prey populations in check and maintains balance in ecosystems.
True or False: Decomposers are always consumers. Explain.
False. They aren’t consumers in the same sense; they break down matter instead of eating live organisms.