Biodiversity Week 2 Part 3 Flashcards
how does energy enter ecosystems
via primary producers
autotrophs
organisms that can synthesize their own food from inorganic sources
do primary producers create energy
no, they transform energy in sunlight of inorganic compounds into chemical energy stored in organic molecules
gross primary productivity
total amount of chemical energy produced in a given area and time period
how do primary producers use GPP chemical energy
- cellular respiration
- growth and reproduction
net primary productivity
energy that is invested by primary producers in building new tissue or offspring
what links these concepts together (NPP, GPP)
- energy is lost from primary producers during processes as molecular waste and heat without being used
NPP=GPP-R
what does NPP represent
total amount of chemical energy that is stored in organic material
- biomass
- amount of energy available via primary producers to other organisms
about how much of GPP go to NPP
45%
what is the other 55% used for
cellular respiration
lost from organism as heat
what is the flow of energy
- Comsumers eat living organisms
- primary consumers eat primary producers
- secondary consumers eat primary consumers
- tertiary consumers eat secondary consumers
when does energy flow
when one organism eats another
does energy continuously cycle
no, it is lost as heat
- nutrients continues to cycle
what is a trophic level
a feeding level in an ecosystem
food chain
focuses on one possible pathway of energy flow among trophic levels in an ecosystem
grazing food chain
ecological network of primary producers, herbivores, and the predators that consume them
decomposer food chain
ecological network of detritus, decomposers that eat detritus, and predators of the decomposers
primary decomposer
decomposer that consumes detritus from plants
