Who or What am I ?
Primary producers that use photosynthesis are also called __________ because they produce their own food.When broken down their name literally means "self feeders".
What is an autotroph?
A food chain is useful for tracing energy flow, but it only tells part of the story. A ___________ shows the complexity of interactions between the different trophic levels.
What is a food web?
Different species in an ecosystem interact with one another and form relationships within a food web. These relationships can be divided into three main categories which are _________________________
What is competition, predation, and symbiosis?
Animals, including humans, get their energy by doing this.
What is eating other organisms? (plants and animals)
These organisms are a unique group of consumers because they eat both producers and other organisms. So, they can be classified as primary or secondary consumers, depending on what they choose to eat in a particular situation.
What is an omnivore?
Consumers, also called _____________, are organisms that obtain their energy by eating other organisms.
What are heterotrophs?
This type of symbiotic relationship is when one species benefits and the other is not obviously affected.
What is Commensalism?
This type of relationship occurs when more than one group of organisms tries to use the same resource such as food, water, or living space.
What is Competition? (or predatory prey competition)
The path of food energy from the Sun to producers and then to consumers.
What is a food chain?
Organisms called ___________ fill the last link in a food chain. These organisms break down the remains and wastes of other organisms. They are important because they help return important nutrients to the environment.
What are decomposers?
These type of hetrotrophs eat producers and are primary consumers because they are the first consumer level in a food chain.
What are Herbivores?
The form of symbiosis is when an organism called a parasite feeds on another organism called a host. Parasites are generally much smaller than the host. In this relationship, the parasite benefits by receiving food and the host is usually weakened but not killed.
What is Parasitism?
This type of relationship is a type of feeding relationship in which one animal hunts and eats another animal.
What is Predation?
Energy stored in the chemical bonds of molecules.
What is chemical energy?
An ecosystem that is on land rather then in water.
What is a terrestrial ecosystem?
These heterotrophs are secondary consumers, because they eat the primary consumers. Secondary consumers are also called _______________ because they eat other animals.
What are carnivores?
If there were not enough secondary consumers to eat the primary consumers this would happen.
Why or how would the population of primary consumers increase?
This type of relationship describes a close, long-term relationship between two species.
What is Symbiosis?
The process where plants, algae, and some bacteria can convert light energy from the Sun into usable, chemical energy.
What is photosynthesis?
These ecosystems make up the largest part of our biosphere. They include marine and freshwater ecosystems.
What are aquatic ecosystems?
A heterotroph consumer that eats secondary consumers is called a _____________ consumer, or third level, consumer. They are at the top of the food chain.
What is a tertiary consumer?
If there were too many primary consumers, they could completely consume and destroy this.
How could the plant population be destroyed?
This type of symbiosis relationship is when both species benefit.
What is Mutualism?
This law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed.
Tiny aquatic plants called _________________ are the main producers in aquatic ecosystems. Algae are a common type of this.
What are phytoplankton?