3.3 - What are the major components of an ecosystem? Flashcards
Abiotic
consists of nonliving components such as water, air, nutrients, rocks, heat, and solar energy.
Biotic
consists of living and once living biological components—plants, animals, and microbes. Can include dead organisms, dead parts of organisms, and waste products.
Limiting factor principle
Too much or too little of any abiotic factor can limit or prevent growth of a population, even if all other factors are at or near the optimal range of tolerance.
Trophic Level
The organization of animals based on their source of food/energy.
Producers/Autotrophs
make the nutrients they need from compounds and energy obtained from their environment.
Consumers/Heterotrophs
cannot produce the nutrients they need through photosynthesis or other processes and must obtain their nutrients by feeding on other organisms (producers or other consumers) or their remains.
Primary consumers/Herbivores
Plant eaters
Third/higher-level consumers
Carnivores who eat other carnivores
Secondary consumers/Carnivores
Meat eaters who feed on herbivores
Omnivores
Animals that eat both plants and animals
Decomposers
consumers that release nutrients from the dead bodies of plants and animals and return them to the soil, water, and air for reuse by producers.
Detritus feeders/detritivores
feed on the wastes or dead bodies of other organisms
Photosynthesis Formula
carbon dioxide + water → solar energy + glucose + oxygen
Aerobic Respiration Formula
glucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water + energy
Anaerobic Respiration/Fermentation
Instead of creating CO2 or water, methane gas, ethyl alcohol, acetic acid, and hydrogen sulfide are made.
