Ecosystems 1 - Food Webs Flashcards
Primary Producers
species that capture sunlight energy (energy from inorganic materials) and build it into chemical bonds through photosynthesis / chemosynthesis
Trophic Interactions
feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem
Consumers
organisms that gain energy from consumed organic materials
- Primary: eat primary producers
- Secondary: eat primary consumers
- AND SO ON…
Primary Producer VS Secondary Producer
PRIMARY: creates it own food through photosynthesis/chemosynthesis
SECONDARY: eats primary producers, essentially an herbivore, to obtain energy, thus relying on other organisms for food
Detritivores
species that consume organic matter
Omnivores
species that feed on producers and consumers at more than one trophic level
“Top Carnivore”
top level in a food chain/web
Secondary Producers
organisms that rely on the production of consumer biomass
Bottom-Up Impact
change at the lower trophic level that impacts the trophic levels above
Top-Down Impact
change at a top trophic level in a food chain that impacts population sizes at lower levels
Gross Primary Production (GPP)
total amount of carbon compounds produced by photosynthesis of plants in an ecosystem in a given time period
- primary producers metabolize some of the energy for growth and maintenance via cellular respiration
Net Primary Production (NPP)
amount of organic matter/energy resources left for consumers in the ecosystem to acquire via herbivory
NPP in the World
- Most global NPP occurs in the ocean - greatest in algal beads and coral reefs
- On land, NPP is greatest in tropical rain forests
Biosphere
the entire planet thought of an one huge ecosystem
- energy flows into and out of the system openly, but matter cycles within the system
