Ecological Energetics and Nutrient Cycling

Question 1

Energy flow
Feeding involves the?

Answer 1

transfer of energy between living things

Question 2

Food chains and food webs
Producers are?
Almost all producers(?) use?

Answer 2

organisms that manufacture organic substances from inorganic substances using energy.
Plants, light energy to produce organic compounds by photosynthesis

Question 3

Note: a very small number of producer species, the chemoautotrophs, use? To produce?
Examples include? that live in ?
These prokaryotes are able to make?
Communities in these ecosystems have only been able to develop and survive as the producers have?
Nitrifying bacteria are?

Answer 3

Chemical energy (rather than light), organic compounds from inorganic materials.
some species of prokaryotes, deep cave systems far from available light (and with no possibility of organic content seeping into the system from above).
organic substances using the minerals in the rock as a source of chemical energy.
evolved an energy source other than light.
Chemoautotrophs

Question 4

Consumers are?
Animals are?
Primary consumers feed on?
Secondary consumers being next in the link feed on ?
Tertiary consumers feed on?
Primary consumers are also called?
Secondary and tertiary consumers are? as they feed on?

Answer 4

Organisms that obtain their energy by feeding on other organisms.
Consumers
Producers(plants)
primary consumers
Secondary consumers
Herbivores (plant feeders)
carnivores, other animals.

Question 5

Decomposers and detritivores are groups of?
While energy flows through an ecosystem as a consequence of?
the flow through the detritus pathway is?
Decomposers for example?
Detritivores for example?
Are important groups of organisms involved in?

Answer 5

Organisms involved in decay and decomposition.
photosynthesis by producers and the subsequent (following) feeding relationships involved
equally important.
Bacteria and fungi, small animals such as earthworms , millipedes and woodlice
decay and decomposition.

Question 6

Food chains and food webs-
A food chain shows?
Each stage is referred to as a? With producers being at the? Primary consumers at the? And so on.

Answer 6

the link between a
producer, a primary consumer, a secondary consumer and possibly a tertiary consumer.
Trophic level
First trophic level , second tropic level

Question 7

In reality, food chains are usually not a?
As most animals?
A food web is the?
In complex ecosystems,
such as the?
food webs tend to be?

Answer 7

Realistic representation of the feeding relationships involved,
don’t rely on a single food source-this would be far too risky in most ecosystems.
Pattern of interrelated ‘food chains’ that operate in an ecosystem.
climax community stage
very complex involving many different species.