Energy Flow Through Ecosystems Flashcards
biotic vs abiotic
life and without life
what are the 5 ecological levels
organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, biospheres
producers and autotrophs
synthesize their own food from inorganic resources
heterotrophs
obtain their carbon from other organisms
consumers
eat other living organisms
decomposers
feed on remains from organisms or waste products
what form does energy flow in
biomass
what is biomass
weight of living or previously living organisms in an area
energy is transferred between what levels
trophic levels
equation for measuring energy flow in ecosystems
GPP-R-NPP
GPP stands for what
gross product productivity
R stands for what
respiration (cellular and losses)
NPP
net primary productivity
how to calculate trophic level transfer efficiency
net productivity at current level/net productivity at previous level x 100
how to calculate net product efficiency
net productivity/biomass assimilated x 100
gross productivity means what
assimilation
only about how much energy/biomass is transferred to the next trophic level
~10%
productivity
rate of biomass produced by area
