9.1 Interdependance Flashcards
What is a food chain?
A diagram that shows the transfer of energy between organisms (what the organism eats)
What is a producer?
A green plant or algae that makes its own food by photosynthesis.
What is a consumer?
Animals that eat plants or other animals.
What happens to energy as it goes along the food chain?
Some energy is transferred to the surroundings or as waste products, so at each level of the food chain, less energy is transferred to the organism in the level above.
What is a food web?
A set of linked food chains.
What is a decomposer?
Organisms (bacteria and fungi) that break down dead plant and animal material releasing nutrients back into the soil or water.
What is interdependence?
The way in which living organisms depend on each other to survive, grow and reproduce. Changes in the population of one species directly affects the population of the other.
What is the size of a population affected by?
- Number of predators
- Number of prey
- Disease
- Pollution
- Competition
What is bioaccumulation?
Chemicals can also be passed along a food chain, for example insecticides. If the primary consumer absorbs small amounts of this and stores them, when their predator eats them the chemical passes into their body. As the predator eats lots of prey the chemical accumulates in their body. Over time, this chemical can build up to fatal levels in organisms.
What is an ecosystem?
The name given to the plants and animals that are found in a particular location, and the area in which they live.
What is a community?
The organisms in an ecosystem
What is a habitat?
The area organisms live in
What is an environment?
The conditions found in a habitat
What does co-exist mean?
Organisms that live in the same place at the same time.
What is a niche?
A particular place or role that an organism has within an ecosystem.
