ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT - (food chain/webs + pyramids) Flashcards
Names given to different trophic levels
DECOMPOSERS TERTIARY CONSUMERS SECONDARY CONSUMERS PRIMARY CONSUMERS PRODUCERS
What are producers?
organisms that produce their own organic nutrients using energy from sunlight
(plants carry photosynthesis to make glucose)
What are primary consumers?
HERBIVORES -> feed on producers, plants
What are secondary consumers?
PREDATORS -> feed on primary consumers
What are tertiary consumers?
PREDATORS -> feed on secondary consumers
What are decomposers?
BACTERIA + FUNGI -> get their energy from feeding off dead + decomposed organisms and waste (faeces) by producing enzymes to break them down.
What are food chains?
show what eats what
source of energy is light from sun
arrows show transfer of energy from one trophic level to another
What are food webs?
network of interconnected food chains
more realistic way of showing connections between organisms in an ecosystem
What are pyramids of number?
show how many organisms at each level of food chain
what does the width of the box in a pyramid of number indicate?
number of organisms at that trophic level
What are pyramids of biomass?
show amount of energy at each trophic level
from this % of energy transfered from one level to next can be calculated
Why are there rarely food chains more than 5 organisms long?
energy decreases from one trophic level to next (only 10% energy available for organism at next level to make new biomass)
ENERGY LOST BY: heat movement respiration undigested waste making waste products
What happens when fossil fuels are burned?
COMBUSTION
carbon combines with oxygen
CO2 RELEASED INTO ATMOSPHERE
