Energy Basics
What is the main source of energy for most ecosystems?
The Sun
How do producers get their energy (what makes them different from consumers)?
They make their own food through photosynthesis using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.
Which trophic level always makes up the base of an energy pyramid
Producers
Name one element that cycles through living and nonliving parts of the biosphere.
Carbon, nitrogen, or water.
What is a food chain?
A simple pathway showing how energy moves from one organism to another
Define the term trophic level.
A step in the food chain that shows how energy is passed.
Give one example of a primary consumer.
Answers will vary. (Rabbit, grasshopper, cow, etc).
In an energy pyramid, which level has the least amount of energy?
Tertiary Consumers (Top predators)
What role do plants play in the carbon cycle?
Take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen during photosynthesis.
How is a food web different from a food chain?
A food web shows many interconnected food chains.
Explain why only about 10% of energy is passed to the next trophic level.
Most energy is lost as heat or used for life processes.
Describe the role of decomposers in an ecosystem.
Break down dead organisms and recycle nutrients.
If 10,000 units of energy start at the the producer level, how many units are available to secondary consumers?
About 100 units.
How does animal waste help recycle nutrients?
It returns nutrients to the soil for plants to use.
Describe how energy flow connects producers to tertiary consumers.
Producers capture energy, passed to herbivores, then to predators, then top predators.
Compare how energy flows and how matter cycles in ecosystems.
Explain how producers and decomposers are connected in the cycling of matter.
Producers create food; decomposers recycle it back into the soil for producers.
Explain why top predators (like hawks or sharks) are fewer in number compared to organisms at lower levels.
Less energy is available at higher levels, so fewer can survive.
Explain why nutrient recycling is important for sustaining ecosystems.
Without recycling, organisms would run out of essential materials.
Explain how the recycling of nutrients supports the continuous flow of energy.
Nutrients help producers grow, which captures energy for the whole system.
Predict what would happen to an ecosystem if the sun's energy were blocked for months.
Producers would die, consumers would lose food, and the ecosystem would collapse.
Imagine rabbits (primary consumers) disappeared. How would this affect producers and secondary consumers?
Producers would increase (less eaten); secondary consumers would decrease (less food).
Compare the amount of energy available to a tertiary consumer in two ecosystems: one with many producers and one with very few producers.
Ecosystem with many producers has more energy to support higher-level consumers; few producers = less energy at the top.
Evaluate what might happen to an ecosystem if decomposers were removed.
Dead matter would pile up, nutrients wouldn’t return to soil, producers couldn’t grow
Create and explain a food chain that includes four trophic levels, labeling each level.
Answers will vary. Example: Grass (producer) -> Grasshopper (primary consumer) -> Frog (secondary consumer) -> Snake (tertiary consumer)