Food Webs
What 2 things do not always appear in food webs?
Name two types of ecosystems
terrestrial and aquatic
What is the start to every food chain?
What are producers?
Organisms that make their own food, usually through photosynthesis.
What does biotic mean?
Living or once living things.
What type of organism appears in a food web, but not in a food chain?
Omnivore
Name a terrestrial biome.
tundra, desert, rainforest, or grassland
What is a primary consumer?
An herbivore that eats producers.
Name an example of a consumer.
Any animal, such as a lion or rabbit.
Define abiotic factors (give two examples).
Non-living environmental factors such as water, sunlight, and soil.
Describe the difference between a food web and food chain.
A food chain shows a singular path of how energy moves from one organism to another, a food web shows how all organisms interact in an ecosystem.
How do ecosystems benefit from biodiversity?
Biodiversity helps maintain balance and resilience in ecosystems.
What role do decomposers play in food chains?
They break down dead matter and return nutrients to the soil.
How do omnivores fit into the food chain?
Omnivores eat both plants and animals.
Give a definition of carnivore, herbivore, omnivore.
Carnivore is a consumer that eats other animals.
A herbivore is a consumer that eats only plants.
An omnivore eats both plants and animals.
Phytoplankton population drastically decreases. Describe what could happen to the cod population and krill population and explain why.
Both would decrease in size. The Krill would lose their main food source, so they would die off and the cod population would be affected negatively because scallops eat phytoplankton and the cods eat the scallops. So if the scallops lose a food source, they die off, then the cod lose their food source.
What can cause an ecosystem to become damaged or destroyed?
natural disasters, pollution, and human activities.
Explain how energy flows through a food chain.
Energy is passed from producers to primary consumers, then to secondary consumers, and so on.
Why are decomposers crucial in ecosystems?
They recycle nutrients back into the soil, maintaining ecosystem health.
What is a biome?
a large area characterized by its flora, fauna, and climate
Seals are prey for the orcas. Orcas are suddenly introduced to the ecosystem. Describe what would happen to two other organisms (not seal) because of the introduction of orcas.
Answers will vary.
What is the largest biome on Earth?
The oceanic biome.
What impact can human activity have on biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem?
Human activities can lead to pollution, habitat destruction, and climate change, affecting both biotic and abiotic components.
How do biotic and abiotic factors interact in an ecosystem?
Biotic factors depend on abiotic factors for survival, such as needing water and sunlight.
What is an ecosystem?
All the things, living and non-living, in an environment that interact with each other.