Trophic Terms
What is an autotroph?
An organism that produces its own food.
What is a population?
All organisms of the same species living in close proximity.
What is the definition for ecosystem?
Biotic and abiotic factors and their interactions.
What is a heterotroph?
An organism that cannot make its own food.
All the different species of an ecosystem are referred to as the...
community
What is the ten percent rule for energy transfer in ecology?
The ten percent rule of energy transfer states that each level in an ecosystem only gives 10% of its energy to the levels above it.
What is a primary consumer? What does it eat?
An herbivore.
What are examples of producers?
Plants, phytoplankton
What happens to biomass as trophic levels increase?
Biomass decreases due to less energy available.
What is a secondary consumer? What does it eat?
It eats herbivores.
What is a detritovore? What are some examples?
A type of decomposer that eats dead organic matter. Worms, vultures.
What is the trophic level for the frog?
Grass->Grasshopper->frog->snake->eagle
Trophic level 3 / Secondary consumer
What is a tertiary consumer? What does it eat?
It eats carnivores.
What is a saprotroph? What are examples?
A type of decomposer that eats dead organic matter. Bacteria and fungi.
If a cougar eats a hare that has a total of 350 kilocalories of food energy, how many kilocalories are converted to biomass if the cougar loses 90 percent of the food energy to waste and cellular respiration?
35 Kilocalories