3.16 Food Chains & Foodwebs Flashcards
What do food chains always start with?
A producer
How do producers make their food?
Producers make (produce) their own food using energy from the Sun
What is a producer?
A photosynthetic organism - usually green plants
What is the glucose used that producers make by photosynthesis?
When a green plant produces glucose, some of it is used to make other biological molecules in the plant. These biological molecules are the plant’s biomass - the mass of living material. Biomass can be thought of as energy stored in a plant
What is biomass?
Biomass can be thought of as energy stored in a plant
How is biomass transferred?
Through living organisms in an ecosystem when organisms eat other organisms - this means that these photosynthetic organisms support nearly all life on Earth.
What are producers eaten by?
Primary consumers (herbivores)
What are primary consumers eaten by?
Secondary consumers (carnivores)
What are secondary consumers eaten by?
Tertiary consumers (carnivores)
Does the amount of energy in a food chain stay the same throughout? (and why)
No, most of it gets lost
What is each stage in a food stage called?
A trophic level
What trophic level are producers?
First
All the species in a food web are inter___________
dependent
What does interdependence mean?
A change in the size of one population will affect the sizes of other populations in the community
Which resource do plants not compete for?
Food
