Unit 9: Ecology - 3.2
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34 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 sunlight | what is the main energy source for life on Earth? |
| autotrophs | organisms that makes their own food from light or chemical energy without eating; also known as producers |
| producers | autotrophs are also known as ... |
| heterotroph | an organism that gets its energy by eating other organisms (from outside source), can't harness energy directly from physical environment |
| herbivores | eat just plants and are primary consumers |
| omnivores | eat both plants and animals and are secondary consumers |
| carnivores | eat only meat and and make up the upper levels of the food chain and are secondary consumers |
| detritivores | they eat dead things/organisms, usually wait for them to die don't kill them (examples: mites, snails, earthworms, crabs, and vultures) |
| decomposers | consumers that break down organic matter (dead organisms) and can't/don't make their own food; do NOT eat; planet couldn't survive without them (examples: mushroom, fungi, bacteria) |
| food chain | series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten -starts with a primary energy source, like sun, (always an autotroph), then producer, then primary consumers, then secondary consumers |
| food web | when the feeding relationships among the various organisms in an ecosystem form a network of complex interactions |
| trophic level | each step in a food chain or food web, each step in the transfer of energy from one organism to another |
| transfer of energy | -the property which energy transfers from one trophic level to another trophic level -energy in an ecosystem flows in one direction- from the sun/inorganic compounds to autotrphs to various heterotrophs |
| first trophic level | level made up of primary producers called autotrophs (make their own food from sunlight/chemical vents, base of every food chain) |
| second trophic level | level made up of primary consumers (herbivores) they eat primary producers |
| third trophic level | level made up of secondary consumers (carnivores or omnivores) they eat primary consumers |
| fourth trophic level | level made up of tertiary consumers and eat secondary consumers |
| fifth trophic level | level made up of quaternary consumers and eat tertiary consumers |
| biomass | total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level (usually expressed in terms of grams or organic matter per unit area) |
| ecological pyramid | diagram that shows the relative amounts of energy or matter contained within each trophic level in a food chain or food web |
| energy pyramid | this shows the relative amount of energy available at each trophic level; organisms use about 10 percent of this energy for life processes and the rest is lost as heat |
| biomass pyramid | this represents the amount of living organic matter at each trophic level (typically, greatest biomass is at base) |
| pyramid of numbers | shows the relative number of individual organisms at each trophic level |
| resource | any necessity of life, such as water, nutrients, life, food, or space |
| predation | occurs when one organism (the predator) captures and eats another (the prey) |
| autotrophs | they have the essential to flow of energy through the biosphere; first trophic level in all food chains |
| food chain | sequence of who eats whom in a biological community (ecosystem) to obtain nutrition |
| food chain | energy flow from one trophic level to the other, simple and direct and involves one organism at each trophic level |
| food web | (links all the food chains in an ecosystem together) most organisms eat more than just one organism, so when more organisms are involved it is called this |
| ecological pyramid | this diagram represents the amount of energy or matter in an ecosystem; there are three types: energy pyramids, biomass pyramids, pyramids of numbers |
| heterotroph | this type of organism consumes food made by autotrophs (consumer = _______) |
| herbivores, omnivores, carnivores, detritivores | types of heterotrophs are .... |
| producers, consumers, decomposers | main positions organisms hold in the food chain |
| 10% law | the law which no organism ever receives all of the energy from the organism they eat; only 10% of the energy from one trophic level is transferred to the next |
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