Trophic Levels
An organism that inly eats plants
What is an herbivore?
Living things that make their own food from sunlight
What are producers (or autotrophs)?
People, bacteria and animals are what part of the environment?
Biotic
What is primary succession?
Growth of life where there has previously been none
Young wasps are eating the tomato hornworm that is their host. This is an example of_________.
What is parasitism?
What is predator (also consumer/carnivore)?
A triangular diagram that shows an ecosystem’s loss of energy
What is an energy pyramid?
A multi-chained diagram that shows how energy in ecosystems flows from one organism to another.
What is a food web?
What is secondary succession?
Re-growth after the disruption of life (forest fires, hurricanes, human interaction)
Two members of the same species fight over certain food. Members of different species try to take over a certain nesting area. These are both examples of _________.
What is competition?
An organism that breaks down organic matter, recycling nutrients back into the environment
What are decomposers?
In a food chain/web arrows demonstrate
What is flow of energy?
Living things that make their own food from sunlight are
What are producers?
What would be the first species present in primary succession?
Rock lichens
In this type of symbiosis, organisms both benefit from each other.
What is mutualism?
What word describes ALL the living organisms found at each of the ecological trophic levels?
What is biotic?
A first-level consumer gets most of its energy from
What are producers (or autotrophs)?
How do decomposers aid in the recycling of nutrients?
When an organism dies, decomposers are responsible for releasing the nitrogen in the organism and recycling it back into the ecosystem.
If a plant is covered in pesticides, what part of the food chain will be the most affected?
The tertiary consumers (the top of the food chain) will be the most affected because the pesticide does not go away like energy does
Mycorrhizae is the name given to the symbiotic relationship between certain plant roots and fungi. In this relationship the fungi increase the plant roots’ water and nutrient absorption from the soil, while receiving energy produced by the plant in order to use for its own life processes.
This is an example of which type of ecological relationship?
Mutualism
Shows the amount of living matter in a food chain
What is a biomass pyramid?
Why is energy transfer in an ecosystem inefficient?
Energy decreases as we go up a food chain; only 10% is passed on to the next level and the other 90% is lost as heat.
Why are the number of trophic levels limited?
Energy is lost at each level so there is not enough energy left to support more levels
What is leading to the increase in extinct species?
Human interaction in environments
When a long-term change takes place in two species because of their close interactions with one another, the change is called __________.
What is coevolution?