Ecosystems Flashcards
What do we call the different energy levels of the ecosystem?
Tropic levels
What are the two main types of organism in an ecosystem?
Producers and consumers
What is the primary source of energy in all ecosystems?
The Sun
Define “producer”
An organism that can make its own energy from the Sun and its environment
Define “consumer”
An organism that can’t make its own energy and has to get it from eating other organisms
What are the four types of consumers?
herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, and detritivores/scavengers
What type of consumer only eats other consumers?
carnivores
What type of consumer eats both other consumers and producers?
omnivores
What type of consumer eats/breaks down dead animal and plant matter?
detritivores/scavengers
What is photosynthesis?
the process that producers use to convert sunlight into energy
What is cellular respiration?
The process that consumers use to turn food into energy?
How are photosynthesis and cellular respiration connected?
They’re the same process, just in the opposite order
What are the three main organizational charts we use to study an ecosystem?
Food chains, food webs, and pyramids
Which is more accurate and precise: food chains or food webs?
Food webs. Food chains don’t show the complicated relationships that exist in real ecosystems
What are three types of ecological pyramid?
Energy pyramids, biomass pyramids, and number pyramids
What is the purpose of the carbon cycle?
To reuse carbon found in gases and in living things, since carbon is an essential building block of living organisms
What are the three cycles responsible for balancing the chemical and nutrient ratios on Earth?
The carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles
What are the different danger levels we use to rank the reduction an organism population?
Vulnerable, Threatened, Extirpated, Endangered, Extinct
What is a keystone species?
A species that causes critical damage if it is removed from its ecosystem
What is biodiversity?
The variety of different populations of organisms in an ecosystem
What is primary succession?
The conversion of a lifeless environment, like bare sand and rock, into a thriving ecosystem over time
What is secondary succession?
The regrowth and replacements of populations in an ecosystem after it gets damaged
What is a pioneer species?
the first organisms to move into a lifeless environment and begin primary succession (usually microbes or lichens).
What is a climax community?
the “final” stage of succession
A forest fire would trigger what type of succession?
secondary; the fire won’t destroy the soil, so it is secondary, not primary succession
