13.1 - Energy Transfer & Productivity Flashcards
Trophic levels, food chains, and food webs Measuring the energy stored in biomass with colorimetry Gross and net primary productivity Energy losses between trophic levels in a food chain Calculating net production of consumers Calculating ecological efficiency
What are trophic levels?
Stages in a food chain or web
What are producers?
As in what makes them a producer?
Organisms that make their own food
What are primary consumers?
Herbivores that consume producers
What are secondary consumers?
Organisms that consume primary consumers
What are tertiary consumers?
Organisms that consume secondary consumers
What are saprobionts (decomposers)?
Organisms that decompose dead organisms
What is a food chain?
Sequence of organisms connected by feeding
What is a food web?
Complex network of interconnected food chains
What does biomass refer to?
Total mass of living material
How is biomass measured?
g/m^2 on land
How can the energy stored in biomass be estimated?
Calorimetry
What is gross primary production (GPP)?
Total solar energy converted by plants
What is net primary production (NPP)?
Energy available to the next trophic level
What is the formula for NPP?
NPP = GPP - R
What is primary productivity?
Rate of primary production
What are some factors contributing to energy loss at each trophic level?
Not all solar energy captured
What is the net production of consumers?
Amount of ingested food converted to biomass
What is the formula for net production of consumers?
N = I - (F + R)
What is ecological efficiency?
Efficiency of biomass/energy transfer between trophic levels
What is the formula for ecological efficiency?
(Energy/biomass after transfer / Energy/biomass before transfer) x 100%
