Ecological Relationships
When two organisms vie for or require the same resource
Competition
A food chain must always start with this
A producer
Before getting to the organisms, the energy comes from here
The Sun
These organisms make their own food
Producers
An animal that only eats other animals (meat)
Carnivore
One organism is helped, one organism is harmed (+ -)
Parasitism
In the food chain: grass --> rabbit --> fox, the rabbit is this type of consumer
Primary consumer
The percentage of energy that is passed between levels
10%
These organisms must eat other organisms to survive
Consumers
An animal that hunts other animals
Predator
Both organisms are helped (+ +)
Mutualism
The arrows in food chains and food webs mean this
The direction of energy flow/where the energy is going
The bottom/level 1
Animals that only eat plants
Herbivores
An animal that is hunted by other animals
Prey
One organism is helped, one organism is unaffected (+ 0)
Commensalism
These animals are at the top of a food chain or food web (nothing eats them)
Apex predators
The levels in an energy pyramid are called this
Trophic levels
These organisms break down dead plants and animals
Decomposers
An animal that eats both plants and other animals
Omnivore
A long-term relationship between two organisms living close together; In Greek it means "living together"
Symbiosis
This type of consumer eats secondary consumers, but can be eaten by apex predators
Tertiary consumer
The producer level has 15,000 units of energy; This means that the secondary consumer level will have this many units
150 units of energy
These consumers eat animals that are already dead
Scavengers
An organism that holds an ecosystem together; if removed the ecosystem can collapse
Keystone species