Energy In Biospheres

Question 1

Producers

Answer 1

• produce own food
• autotrophs
• use energy from the sun
  -use energy from chemicals chemiosmosis (seen in caves or ocean vents)

Question 2

Consumers

Answer 2

• consume foods from plants or animals
• depend on producers to obtain energy
• heterotrophs

Primary- first eaters of plants and other consumers
Secondary- carnivores that eat primary consumers
Tertiary- consume secondary consumers
Quaternary consumers- consume tertiary consumers

Question 3

Decomposers

Answer 3

• obtain energy from energy rich molecules by eating or absorbing leftover Waste matter, including feces, dead bodies
• fungi, bacteria, worms, insects
• return organic and inorganic matter to the earth that can be used again by producers

Question 4

Matter and energy

Answer 4

• earth is a closed system to matter, no matter enters or leaves, molecules used and reused endlessly
• Matter cycles and energy flows

Question 5

First Law of thermodynamics

Answer 5

Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another

Question 6

Second law of thermodynamics

Answer 6

With each conversion of energy there is less energy available to do useful work as some energy is converted to waste energy, waste energy is usually heat but can also be sound or light

Question 7

The rule of 10

Answer 7

• energy transfers are limited due to the laws of thermodynamics
• only 10% of energy is passed on at each level
• this is why there is so few top consumers

Question 8

Pyramid of numbers

Answer 8

• represents the relative number of organisms at each link in the food chain and each tropic level
• organisms at higher tropic levels are fewer in numbers than those at lower tropic levels
• this demonstrates a decrease in the available energy at each successive tropic level

Question 9

Inverted pyramid of numbers

Answer 9

• organisms at lower tropic levels are at fewer numbers than those are higher levels
• due to the size of the organisms there is more biomass at lower tropic levels
• can be corrected with a pyramid of biomass

Question 10

Pyramid of biomass

Answer 10

• shows the dry mass of living or once living organisms in an ecosystem
• there is less biomass at higher tropic levels than lower tropic levels
• illustrates a decrease in available energy at each successive tropic level

Question 11

Inverted pyramid of biomass

Answer 11

• there is less biomass at the first tropic level than the second
• in some aquatic ecosystems, the biomass of zooplankton at the second tropic level is greater than the biomass of phytoplankton being fed at the first tropic level
• this inversion is Caused because the phytoplankton are eaten as fast as they reproduce, byte enough energy is being transferred to keep the ecosystem from collapsing

Question 12

Pyramid of energy

Answer 12

Shows the transfer of energy from one tropic level to the next, typically shown as 10% efficiency but can vary from 5% - 20%
- overcomes limitations caused by the inverted pyramid of biomass
- in all ecosystems there is less energy available at each tropic level

Question 13

Inverted pyramid of energy

Answer 13

Does not exist because there can never be less energy in a lower tropic level than at a higher tropic level