Trophic Tiers
This is the ecological role of an organism that eats only plants.
What is a Herbivore?
The entire system of living and nonliving factors interacting in a specific area.
What is an Ecosystem?
This is the term for any nonliving factor in an environment, such as soil or water.
What is Abiotic?
A group of organisms of the same species living in the same area.
What is a Population?
The interconnected web of multiple food chains in an ecosystem.
What is a Food Web?
This term describes the feeding level a Primary Consumer, like a rabbit, occupies.
What is a Trophic Level?
Bacteria and fungi play this vital recycling role by breaking down dead matter and returning nutrients to the soil.
What are Decomposers?
This is the term for all the living factors in an environment, such as plants, animals, and bacteria.
What is Biotic?
A close relationship between two different species where both organisms benefit.
What is Mutualism?
The simple, linear model showing a single pathway of energy flow from one organism to the next.
What is a Food Chain?
This type of consumer eats a Primary Consumer and is usually a carnivore or omnivore.
What is a Secondary Consumer?
The long-term average atmospheric conditions in an area, which helps determine the biome.
What is Climate?
This factor, usually nonliving, is the main source of energy for almost all terrestrial food webs.
What is the Sun (or sunlight)?
An interaction that occurs when two or more organisms attempt to use the same limited resource.
What is Competition?
In a food web diagram, these indicate the direction that energy moves.
What are Arrows?
Final Jeopardy: The entire sum of all the habitable ecosystems on Earth. This is the highest level of organization in ecology, encompassing all life on the planet.
What is the Biosphere?