Energy and Nutrient Flow Flashcards
What is a food chain?
A food chain is formed from the transfer of food energy from producers through a series of consumers.
It illustrates the flow of energy and nutrients in an ecosystem.
What does each organism in a food chain represent?
Each organism represents a trophic level.
What happens to the energy consumed at each trophic level?
A high percentage of the useful energy consumed as food is converted to heat and lost from the food chain.
Only 10% of energy at each trophic level is available for transfer.
What are food webs?
Food webs are complex networks of interconnected food chains at different trophic levels.
What does bioaccumulation refer to?
Bioaccumulation refers to the way pollutants enter a food chain.
What is biomagnification?
Biomagnification refers to the tendency of pollutants to increase in concentration as they traverse one trophic level to the next higher trophic level.
Is it more energy efficient for higher trophic level organisms to consume those at the first trophic level?
Yes, it is more energy efficient for organisms at a higher trophic level to consume those at the first trophic level.
Most of the available energy is stored in autotrophs.
What is productivity in ecosystem systems?
Productivity refers to the rate of production of organic matter in any unit time in an ecosystem.
It is a measure of the energy flow in ecosystems.
What is primary productivity?
Primary productivity is the rate of capture of solar energy or biomass production of producers in an ecosystem.
It can be measured as Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and Net Primary Productivity (NPP).
What is GPP?
GPP is the total rate of capture of solar energy or the rate at which organic matter is produced by autotrophs.
It measures the overall energy capture in an ecosystem.
What is NPP?
NPP is the rate at which autotrophs store organic material as new tissue.
NPP is calculated as NPP = GPP - respiration.
What is secondary productivity?
Secondary productivity is the rate of assimilation or storage of food energy at the level of the consumer.
It reflects how much energy consumers convert into biomass.
What is a Pyramid of Numbers?
A Pyramid of Numbers is a graphic representation of the number of individual organisms per unit area at each trophic level
It illustrates the population size at different levels.
What does a Pyramid of Biomass represent?
A Pyramid of Biomass is a graphic representation of biomass present per unit area of each trophic level.
How does biomass vary in terrestrial ecosystems?
In terrestrial ecosystems, biomass is highest at producers and progressively decreases as trophic levels increase.
This pattern reflects energy flow through the ecosystem.
