Ecological Relationships & Energy Flow Flashcards
Consumer
2 marks
Animal that eats a plant or another animal in order to obtain energy.
Egestion
3 marks
Process of passing out the remains of food that has not been digested - as faeces - through the anus.
Excretion
2 marks
Process by which waste products from chemical reactions in an organism are removed.
Producer
2 marks
Plant that produces its own food by Photosynthesis.
Trophic level
3 marks
Position of an organism in a food chain, food web or pyramid.
Respiration
2 marks
Chemical reaction that happens in every living cell to release energy from food molecules.
Original source of energy for almost all organisms on the Earth
(1 mark)
The Sun
Energy flow;
Detailed
(3 marks)
Amount of energy that moves through a food chain.
Energy input/energy that enters the ecosystem - measured in Joules/calories.
Alt. name = calorific flow.
Plants trap sunlight energy in…
1 mark
Chlorophyll
Why do plants trap sunlight energy in Chlorophyll?
2 marks
To use it during photosynthesis to make food (sugar + starch)
- it then can be passed onto animals.
Animals/consumers obtain the food made by plants/producers through…?
(1 mark)
Feeding
Feeding
1 mark
Animals/consumers obtain the food made by plants/producers through feeding.
What type of consumers are Herbivores?
1 mark
Primary consumers
Herbivores
1 mark
Plant eating animals.
What type of consumers are Carnivores?
1 mark
Secondary consumers
Carnivores
1 mark
Animals who eat other animals.
Those that feed on secondary consumers
1 mark
Tertiary consumers
The Sequence of Feeding
1 mark
Producers ➡️ Primary Consumers ➡️ Secondary Consumers ➡️ Tertiary Consumers
Tertiary Consumers
1 mark
Feed on Secondary Consumers.
Secondary Consumers
1 mark
Feed on Primary Consumers.
Producers
1 mark
Feed Primary Consumers.
Primary Consumers
1 mark
Feed on Producers.
This sequence of feeding shows
1 mark
The flow of energy.
The different stages in the feeding sequence
1 mark
Tropic levels
Trophic levels
1 mark
The different stages in the feeding sequence.
Energy flow
1 mark
Amount of energy that moves through a food chain.
Energy flow alternative name
1 mark
Calorific flow
What is the energy input/energy that enters the ecosystem measured?
(2 marks)
Joules or Calories
Trophic Level 1
1 mark
Primary Consumers
Trophic Level 2
1 mark
Secondary Consumers
Trophic Level 3
1 mark
Tertiary Consumers
How can the Specific feeding sequences (and therefore flow of energy) be represented?
(1 mark)
Food chain
Arrows between each organism show the direction of:
4 marks
- Feeding (consumption).
- Energy flow.
- Transfer of substances such as Carbon + Nitrogen.
Food webs
2 marks
Show a number of food chains that are interlinked
- due to the organisms involved living in close proximity.
Most organisms will have more than 1 food source that can be seen in a food web but not…
(1 mark)
A food chain.
What is lost between each trophic level?
1 mark
Energy
When is energy lost when the sun is shining on the producer (Plant)?
(2 marks)
Energy is lost when light is reflected off the leaf
- or passes through but misses the chloroplasts
Why is it not a problem when light misses a plants (producers) chloroplasts or reflects off a leaf - losing a plant energy?
(1 mark)
There is no shortage of light from the sun.
Between each Trophic Level, how much of the energy is transferred to the next?
(1 mark)
10- 20%
How much energy is lost between each trophic level?
1 mark
80-90%.
Why is energy lost between each trophic level?
3 marks
Whole organism not being eaten (skeleton + fur).
Not all food digested – some passes out of the animal in excretion or egestion.
Some lost as heat in respiration + therefore not being passed onto the next level
What does respiration provide an animal with?
1 mark
Energy for movement, reproduction + growth
What is energy required for (in animals)?
3 marks
Movement, reproduction + growth.
Benefit of shorter food chains
1 mark
More energy efficient as energy is lost at each stage.
Pyramid of Numbers
2 marks
Number of organisms in each trophic level counted + presented in a diagram
- they are referred to as pyramids because of their shape.
Producers have a higher value…
1 mark
than the primary consumers;
primary consumers have a higher value than secondary consumers and so on.
Advantage of Pyramid of Numbers
1 mark
Counting numbers is easy to do.
Disadvantages of Pyramid of Numbers
2 marks
They do not take the organism’s size into account so may not always resemble a pyramid.
E.g if producer is 1 tree then pyramid will look inverted.
Inverted
1 mark
Smaller on bottom.
Pyramid of Biomass
2 marks
Biomass - (amount of living material) - of organisms in each trophic level is measured + presented in a pyramid of biomass.
Advantages of Pyramid of Biomass
2 marks
More accurate as the organism’s size is taken into account.
E.g bar representing 1 tree will be largest as it has more mass than primary consumers.
Why are Pyramids of Biomass used?
1 mark
To overcome the problem of inverted pyramids of number.
