Ecosystem Ecology Flashcards
a linear description of energy flow, with each organism feeding on and deriving energy from the preceding organism
Food Chain
each level in a food chain
Trophic Level
most autotrophs use sunlight to store energy in a carbon compound; form the base of a food chain; produce energy-rich organic molecules on which nearly all other organisms depend on
Primary Producers
heterotrophs that obtain their food by consuming primary producers
Primary Consumer
organisms that eat primary consumers
Secondary Consumer
organisms that feed on secondary consumers
Tertiary Consumer
when unconsumed plants die and decompose; dead remains of animals and waste products
Detritus
consumers that get their energy from detritus; bread down dead organisms from all trophic levels
Detrivores
a complex model of interconnected food chains in which multiple links occur among different species
Food Web
percentage of energy assimilated by an organism that becomes incorporated into new biomass
Production Efficiency
the amount of energy at one trophic level that is acquired by the trophic level above and incorporated into biomass
Trophic-Level Transfer Efficiency
total mass of living matter in a given area or volume
Biomass
production of primary producers (plants, algae, cyanobacteria)
Gross Primary Production (GPP)
GPP minus the energy used during cellular respiration of photosynthetic organisms
Net Primary Production
species’ biomass or abundance is limited by the scarcest factor
Liebig’s Law of the Minimum
