Energy In Ecosystems

Question 1

What is population ?

Answer 1

The number of individuals of one species in a habitat

Question 2

What is community?

Answer 2

All members of all the species in a habitat

Question 3

What is habitat?

Answer 3

The place where organisms live

Question 4

What is an ecosystem ?

Answer 4

All of the living and nonliving components in a location and how they interact

Question 5

What are decomposes?

Answer 5

They are bacteria and fungi that break down dead matter

Question 6

What are producers?

Answer 6

They are plants which photosynthesis to create their own food

Question 7

What are consumers?

Answer 7

They are animals that eat plants or other animals

Question 8

What is an environment ?

Answer 8

The nonliving part of the ecosystem e.g. air, temperature, mineral ions, water

Question 9

What diagram can show the direction of energy flow through different animals and plants ?

Answer 9

Food-chain

Question 10

What are the stages called in food chains ?

Answer 10

Tropic levels

Question 11

What are the three types of consumers ?

And what are they ?

Answer 11

• primary consumer-This is the first consumer in the chain and eats the producers. They are known as herbivores.
• secondary consumers-these are carnivores.
• tertiary consumers-these are the larger carnivores which eats the smaller carnivores

Question 12

How do plants get energy?

Answer 12

From the Sun, the light energy is converted into chemical energy by the plants during photosynthesis

Question 13

How is energy pass along food chains ?

Answer 13

• light energy is converted to chemical energy by plants
• this chemical energy is passed on to the next level in the food chain by the primary consumer eating this food which contains chemical energy
• some of the chemical energy is used by the consumer to make its own body tissue, which would then be passed on to the next consumer

Question 14

Why is only 10% of the previous foods energy, passed on to the consumer ?

Answer 14

• each organism uses some of it to live
• some parts not eaten
• some parts that are eaten are not digested e.g.lignin in plants
• organisms respire
• some energy is lost due to excretion
• some energy is lost due to movement
• some energy is lost as heat

Question 15

What percent of energy is passed on to the consumer?

Answer 15

10%

Question 16

What happens as you go further up the food chain?

Answer 16

The biomass at each trophic level decreases, because there is much less energy to sustain the organism and that Trophic level

Question 17

Why is the larger food web good ?

Answer 17

The most species in the food web, the more stable the community

Question 18

What are the three pyramids in the ecosystem ?

Answer 18

• pyramid of Numbers
• pyramid of biomass
• pyramid of energy

Question 19

What is a pyramid of numbers?

Answer 19

A diagram which shows the number, of living organisms at each level in the food chain

Question 20

What is a pyramid of biomass?

Answer 20

It represents the food chain in terms of biomass

Question 21

How do you work out a trophic levels biomass ?

Answer 21

The weight of each organism times its amount

Question 22

What is a pyramid of energy?

Answer 22

The amount of energy available at each trophic level

Question 23

How do you measure how many organisms that are in a particular habitat ?

Answer 23

Using a quadrat

Question 24

Why is it important that your quadrat sample is carried out randomly ?

Answer 24

To avoid human bias or else the sample you’ve taken will not be a representation of the whole area

Question 25

After you have worked out the average number of each species in a Quadrat how do you know how many species roughly there are in a habitat ?

Answer 25

Divide the habitats Area by the quadrat area