Food Chains, Food Webs & The Energy Pyramid

Vocabulary

100

All the food chains combined for a whole ecosystem.

What is a food web? 

200

A description of how nutrients in an ecosystem flows directly from one organism to another.

What is a food chain?

300

Organism that feed off of dead and decaying remains of producers and consumers

What is a decomposer?

400

Organism that cannot make their own food

What is a consumer?

500

Organism that takes non-living matter and uses it to make food (energy) for itself with surplus for other organisms

What is a producer?

Photosynthesis, etc.

100

CO2 and H2O  (think chemical reactions)

What are the reactants of photosynthesis? (BIO)

or

What are products of combustion reactions? (CHEM)

200

An organism that only eats meat.

What is a carnivore?

300

A consumer that eats both plants and flesh

What is an omnivore?

400

True or False: 1st level consumers can never be carnivores

True, carnivores must be 2nd or 3rd level consumers

500

Name an example of an herbivore, carnivore, and omnivore.

Answers determined by the class: ex herbivore: grasshopper carnivore: lion omnivore: human

Fill in the Blank

100

An elephant eats only plants, which makes it a _________________.

Herbivore

200

A tiger is a good example of this type of consumer: _____________.

carnivore

300

Precipitation, soil, and sunshine are examples of __________ components of an ecosystem.

abiotic

400

Fungi and bacteria are good examples of _______________

decomposers

500

Plants are the only organisms who can create their own energy.  For this reason, they are known as _______________.

producers

Energy Pyramid

100

The base of the Energy-Pyramid is occupied by only _____________, and ________ percent of this energy is available for consumption.

The base of the Energy-Pyramid is occupied by only producers, and 100% percent of this energy is available for consumption.

200

The 2nd level of the Energy pyramid is occupied by "primary consumers".  What percentage of this energy is available at the next level?

10%

300

The 3rd level of the Energy pyramid is occupied by ______________ consumers, and only ______ percent of the total starting energy is available.

The 3rd level of the Energy pyramid is occupied by secondary consumers, and only 1% of the total starting energy is available.

400

Where is energy lost at each level in an energy pyramid or food chain?  Where is this energy going?

Body heat, hunting, movement, reproduction, eating, defence, chemical reactions inside the organism,...

500

How does the energy at the top of the pyramid return back to the bottom of the pyramid to continue this cycle?

Decomposers will bring energy and nutrients back into the soil.

Energy Flow

100

All the food chains start with this source of energy.

What is the sun?

200

Which directions do arrows point in a food chain?

From the organisms that are eaten, pointing TOWARDS the organism that is DOING THE EATING.  The direction shows where the energy is flowing.

300

Why are there fewer consumers than producers in a food web?

There is less energy available the higher you go in the food pyramid

400

Why do producers make up the largest group in the energy pyramid?

Because they make their own food and form the base of energy for the ecosystem.

500

If 5000 Joules of energy starts at the bottom of the energy pyramid (producers), how much of that energy will end up at the top of the pyramid? (Hint: Only a certain % is left for apex predators.)

0.5 Joules of energy