Definitions
The ability to do work/cause some kind of change.
What is energy?
Fill in the blank:
As you move to higher trophic levels and energy is transferred some is ____?
What is Lost?
What does the pyramid of numbers represent?
The total number of individual organisms at each leaves in the food chain of an eco- system.
What does the pyramid of biomass show?
Biomass of all trophic levels of an ecological system.
True or False: Pyramids of Energy can me inverted pyramids.
A graphical model showing the interconnecting food chains in an ecological community.
What is Food Web?
Identify the producer in this pond ecosystem:
Fish, zooplanktons, phytoplanktons, bird
What is phytoplanktons?
What is the general sequence of the pyramid of numbers
producers —> primary consumer —> secondary consumers —> tertiary consumers
Why is dry mass often used?
Plants have different quantities of water depending on environmental conditions.
Instrument used to measure measure heat transfer during combustion of organic material? (SPELL IT)
What is a CALORimeter.
The total mass of the plants and/or animals in a specific area.
What is biomass?
What is the difference between a food web and a food chain?
A food web represents multiple pathways through which energy and matter flow through an ecosystem.
Food chain is the sequence of linear transfers of matter and energy in the form of food from organism to organism.
True or False the pyramid of numbers is always upright
False. For example when the producer is a tree the pyramid would be inverted
What does the term "weighing to constant mass mean"?
It means drying, weighing, drying and weighing again until mass is constant.
Percentage of energy in an organism that is passed on to an organism in a higher trophic level?
What is 10%?
The biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
What is an Ecosystem?
Why do food chains rarely exceed five links?
There wouldn't be enough energy left to support animals so far removed from the original energy input to producers.
What are two limitations for the pyramid of numbers?
-Organisms are treated equally whatever their size
-They do not include micro-organisms which are important as decomposes and parasites
-Juvenile stages may feed at a different trophic level to adults
-They aren’t drawn to scale
-They do not show the 90% energy loser as you move from one one energy level to the next
What is an advantage of a pyramid of biomass?
-More accurate than a pyramid of numbers
- A better representation of energy is given
- Overcomes the problem of equating all organisms despite size
- Potential food available at each trophic level to consumers is shown
Why are consumers at the TOP of a food pyramid numbers relatively few in most ecosystems.
Most energy is lost through respiration and metabolic heat. Thus, as you increase trophic levels less energy will be available to he consumers (As seen in a pyramid of energy diagram). This results in fewer numbers of top tertiary consumers.
The role of an organism within an ecosystem.
What is Ecological Niche?
How can energy transfer from one trophic level to another can be displayed?
What is Pyramid of energy.
What is an advantage of the pyramid of numbers?
Simple easy method of giving an overview.
What are 2 limitations of a pyramid of biomass?
-Material that is inedible to the organisms in the next trophic level are measured (e.g hair, bone).
- Not all material eaten may be digested and therefore doesn’t provide energy or nutrients to the next trophic level.
- Does not show the amount of energy available to be transferred.
- Depends on sampling and estimation and therefore might not be very accurate.
What is the unit of measurement for energy usually represented in an energy pyramid diagram?
What is kJm-2year-1 (Kilojoules per meters square per year)