Chapter 18:Organisms and their envirnment Flashcards
Definition of habitat
The place where organisms live
What is a ecosystem
A unit containing all the organisms in a community and thier environment,interacting together
What is the principal source of energy into biological systems
The sun
Where does Chemical energy come from
Organisms
What is the principal source of energy to the biological systems
the sun
What is a food chain
A diagram showing the flow of energy from one organism to the next,beginning with a producer.
What is a food web
A network of interconnected food chains
How do food chains sequence
Producer > primary consumer > secondary consumer > tertiary consumer > quaternary consumer
Describe a producer
An organism that makes its own organic nutrients, usually using energy from sunlight, through photosynthesis
Describe a consumer
An organism that gets its energy by feeding on other organisms
are primary consumers herbivores or carnivores
Herbivores
Describe herbivore
An animal that gets its energy by eating plants
Describe carnivores
an animal that gets its energy by eating other animals
Describe decomposers
An organism that gets its energy from dead or waste organic material
What’s o the arrows show on a food chain or food web
The direction of energy flow
Describe the pyramid of numbers
The area of the block represents the number of organisms at that level in the food chain
What is tropical level
The position of an organism in a food chain,food web or pyramid of biomass or numbers
What is a pyramid of biomass
A graph showing the relative quantity of biomass at each tropical level
What’s the advantage of using a pyramid of biomass rather than a pyramid of number to represent a food chain?
Pyramids of biomass provide a much better idea of the quantity of the plant or animal material at each level of a food chain and therefore are a better way of representing interdependence within the food chain
What is pyramid of energy
A graph showing the relative quantity of energy at each trophic level
Name 3 ways energy loss happens
1-when an organism uses glucose and other organic compounds for respiration,some of the energy realises from the glucose is lost as heat energy to the environment
2-when an organism eats another,it rarely eats absolutely all of it
3- when an animal eats another organism,enzymes in its digestive system break down most of the large nutrient molecules so they can be absorbed
Why is the pyramid of numbers shaped like that
Because there is less energy available as you go up the tropical level.so there are fewer organisms at each level
Why is the pyramid of biomass in that shape
Because one large organisms (tree) can produced food for hundreds of small organisms (caterpillars)
What is the unit for the quantity of energy
kJ per square meter per year
