2.1

Question 1

What is biomass?

Answer 1

The total mass of of living plants, animals, fungi and bacteria in a given area.

Question 2

What units are commonly used for biomass?

Answer 2

Grams or kilograms per square metre

Question 3

What are the two ways that an organism in an ecosystem interacts with this given ecosystem?

Answer 3

1. Obtains food from ecosystem

2. Contributes energy to the ecosystem

Question 4

What is energy flow?

Answer 4

The transfer of energy from one organism in an ecosystem to another.

Question 5

What are producers?

Answer 5

Plants that produce food in the form of carbohydrates during photosynthesis.

Question 6

What are the carbohydrates produced in photosynthesis used for?

Answer 6

They are used as an energy source for other life forms. (Ex. A bee feeds on a plant)

Question 7

What are consumers?

Answer 7

The organisms that eat the plants that produce the energy. Note: consumers can eat other consumers to gain energy as well.

Question 8

Do organism continue to contribute to the energy flow in an ecosystem after they die?

Answer 8

Yes

Question 9

What is decomposition?

Answer 9

The breaking down of organic wastes and dead organisms

Question 10

What is biodegradation?

Answer 10

When living organisms like bacteria and lichens break down dead organic matter.

Question 11

What are decomposers?

Answer 11

The name for the bacteria and fungi (etc.) that break down the dead organic matter.

Question 12

What happens after the decomposers break down the dead organic matter?

Answer 12

Nutrients are made available to organisms in the soil and water. This links the abiotic and biotic components of an ecosystem.

Question 13

What is a food chain?

Answer 13

Models that show the energy flow from plant to animal and animal to animal (from step to step or trophic level to trophic level).

Question 14

What is a trophic level?

Answer 14

Each step in a food chain

Question 15

What do trophic levels show?

Answer 15

The feeding and niche relationships amount organisms

Question 16

What are primary producers?

Answer 16

Producers who are at the first trophic level

Question 17

What are primary consumers?

Answer 17

Organisms in the second trophic level. They eat primary producers in order to obtain energy.

Question 18

What are secondary consumers?

Answer 18

Organisms in the third trophic level that obtain energy from eating primary consumers

Question 19

What are tertiary consumers?

Answer 19

Organisms in the fourth trophic level that feed on secondary consumers for energy.

Question 20

What are detrivores?

Answer 20

Detrivores are consumers that obtain energy and nutrients by eating the dead bodies of small animals, dead plant matter or animal wastes.

Question 21

What are some examples of detrivores?

Answer 21

Earthworms and beetles

Question 22

What are herbivores?

Answer 22

Primary consumers that eat plants only.

Question 23

What are carnivores?

Answer 23

Secondary consumers that eat primary consumers or tertiary consumers that eat secondary consumers (meat eaters)

Question 24

What are food webs?

Answer 24

A model of the feeding relationships within an ecosystem.

Question 25

What is food energy used for?

Answer 25

To obtain and digest food, repair damaged tissue and move.

Question 26

How much of the consumed food energy is used for chemical reactions and heat production in the body?

Answer 26

80-90%

Question 27

What is a food pyramid?

Answer 27

A model that shows the loss of energy from one trophic level to another. A.K.A. Ecological pyramids

Question 28

What are the different types of ecological pyramids?

Answer 28

Biomass, numbers, and energy pyramids.

Question 29

How much does the energy decrease as you go from trophic level to trophic level in a food pyramid?

Answer 29

By 90%

Question 30

What happens during photosynthesis?

Answer 30

Green leaves produce carbohydrates, an important energy source for animals and plants.