Food Chains
What is the first organism in a food chain?
Primary producer/plant
What do the arrows in a food web show?
The flow of energy
What is an herbivore?
An organism that eats plants only
How much energy gets passed on to each trophic level?
10%
Which of the pyramids show how many calories is passed on to each level?
What is an autotroph?
An organism that makes its own food energy
True or False: Food webs can show if an organism is an omnivore
True
What is a carnivore?
An organism that eats animals only
Why doesn't 100% of energy get passed on to the next trophic level?
Energy gets lost as heat or used for cellular processes
What is a keystone species?
A species that many other species in the ecosystem depend on
What comes after primary producers in a food chain?
Primary consumers
A food web shows an arrow pointing from grass to elk and from elk to wolves and coyotes. What type of consumer is the elk?
Primary consumer/herbivore
What is an omnivore?
An organism that eats plants and animals
What type of pyramid shows the population size of each trophic level?
Pyramid of Numbers
What would happen to an ecosystem if the primary consumers were removed?
The secondary consumers would die out because of lack of food, and the producers would overgrow because there is nothing to control their population
True or False: Primary consumers can be carnivores
False
A food web shows arrows pointing from berries and insects to birds and birds to foxes. What type of consumer is the bird?
Omnivore
What is a scavenger?
An organism that eats carcasses left by other animals
Which type of pyramid shows the weight of the populations of each level?
Pyramid of biomass
Why are there more primary consumers than secondary consumers?
There is more food available to support them (more producers for primary consumers versus less primary consumers for secondary consumers)
What is the secondary consumer:
plant -> mouse -> snake -> hawk
snake
What is the difference between a food chain and food web?
A food chain shows a single pathway for energy flow while a food web shows all the different relationships between populations
What is the difference between a decomposer and detritivore?
Detritivores have mouths and decomposers don't
Why does each trophic level usually decrease in size as we go up a pyramid?
Only 10% of energy gets passed on, so fewer organisms can be supported at each level
What is the difference between food webs and energy pyramids?
Food webs show the different relationships between populations while energy pyramids show how much energy there is in each trophic level