Vocab
Energy Flow
Data!
100

The living and nonliving things in one area are a part of this term.

Ecosystem

100

True or False: The law of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed.

True

100

Organism        Mesic Forest             Riparian Forest
Plant                5.5                               6.7
Animal             2.6                               3.4
Fungus (range) 2                                 0-5 

Are consumers or producers more common in the Mesic Forest?

Producers (5.5:2.6)

200

Another word for nonliving things

abiotic factor

200
Based on our hike observations, this type of living thing is more common in an ecosystem.

What is a producer

200

Organism        Mesic Forest             Riparian Forest
Plant                5.5                               6.8
Animal             2.6                               3.4
Fungus (range) 2-3                            0-5 

What is the ratio of plants to animals in the Riparian Forest?

2:1

(6.8:3.4 simplified)

300

another word for living things

organism or biotic factor

300

Energy from the primary consumer comes from the producer. This animal is the primary consumer.

Grasshopper

300

Organism        Mesic Forest             Riparian Forest
Plant                5.5                               6.7
Animal             2.6                               3.4
Fungus (range) 2-3                            0-5 


The plant and animal data is averaged across many groups. Why did we average our data?

Averaging data strengthens our claim by including results from many samples, not just one. One way of adjusting for error.

400

a scientific idea formed by data

inference

400

Energy is lost between each step of the food chain. 90% of energy is "lost" or used in acts of daily living, and only 10% is passed to the next consumer in the chain. This is known as the...

10% rule.

400

Organism        Mesic Forest             Riparian Forest
Plant                5.5                               6.7
Animal             2.6                               3.4
Fungus (range) 2-3                            0-5 


We averaged our data for plants and animals. Why do the averages not make sense?

You can't have 7/10ths of a plant in real life USING OUR SAMPLING METHOD.

500

This type of animal gets its energy by eating other animals

Secondary consumer

500

Using the 10% rule, if there are 2 eagles in this ecosystem, about how many snakes must there be?

2 eagles x 10 = 20 snakes

500

On our second hike, we threw a hoop down and counted the number of biotic factors inside. Why does this sample under-represent the true number of consumers in an ecosystem?

Many answers:

-scared them off

-too small of a hoop

-inexperience of samplers