Chapter 1 - Lesson 2: How Energy is Transferred in the Biosphere Flashcards
What is an Ecosystem?
It’s made up of all the organisms which live in an area and the physical environment of that area.
What are the 3 ways that organisms in an ecosystem can be identified?
- The way they obtain their food.
- The consumer level.
- The trophic level.
What does Trophic Level mean?
A feeding level through which energy and matter are transferred.
Why is the 1st Trophic Level important?
It’s important because it supplies chemical energy required or needed to fuel the other trophic levels.
What is a Food Chain?
A model which shows the linear pathways through which food is transferred from producers to primary consumers and to higher trophic levels.
What is a Food Web?
A model of food (energy) transfer in an ecosystem which shows the connections among food chains.
Why is the length of a food chain limited?
It is limited because the laws of thermodynamics limit the amount of the energy that can be transferred from one trophic level to another.
How much energy is passed from one trophic level to the other?
Only some of the energy is passed along at each step.
