ecology - food chains and predator prey cycles Flashcards
UK food chain
grass, rabbit, fox
what do food chains begin with?
a producer. in most food chains, the producer is a green plant. in the sea, the producer could be an algae such as seaweed
why are producers in food chains important?
they synthesise complex molecules.
green plants make green molecule glucose by photosynthesis. to do this use energy from sunlight
what are molecules such as glucose called?
biomass. these pass down food chain to other organisms
what are the producers?
the source of all the biomass in a community + that’s why they are so important
what eats the producers?
primary consumers
what eats the primary consumer?
secondary consumer
what eats the secondary consumer?
tertiary consumer. this can be a bird of prey
what are predators?
consumers that kill and eat other animals
what is the prey?
the animal that is being eaten by predator
explain predator and prey population time graph
the numbers of predator and prey rise and fall in cycles
why might population of rabbits increase one year? then why does fox population increase?
warm weather/summer so plenty of grass for rabbits to eat. more offspring survive and population increase. then fox population increase as more rabbits to eat. however, more foxes means more rabbits eaten so rabbit population falls. now foxes have fewer rabbits to kill and eat so their population will also fall. now more rabbits will survive and reproduce. population increase. it goes in cycles
- only true in stable community
why would happen to the predator and prey cycle if something changed in the abiotic or biotic factor?
it would cause change to the stable community and cycle will change
