Energy Transfer Flashcards
food chain
a path of food consumption in an ecosystem
Trophic levels
each level of consumption in a food chain
Food web
interconnected food chains
Gross production
total energy acquired at each level
Net production
energy left after respiration and activities
Net production is only a fraction of ………….
gross production
Organisms expend energy to ……….
stay alive
The different between net production and gross production is greater for ………. than ………..
consumers;producers
Conversion efficiency
the ration of net production at one trophic level to the net production of the higher level
Average conversion efficiency from producers to primary consumers
10%
Average conversion efficiency from herbivores to carnivores
1%-5%
Pyramid of energy
the decrease in total energy at each trophic level
Pyramid of numbers
the number of individuals at each tropic level
Entropy
a measure of randomness or disorder in a system
Some energy must be expended as ……..
waste heat
Waste heat limits the amount…..
of work a system can do
Moving through tropic levels from base to top; entropy always…… and biomass generally……
increases;decreases
Energy is …… as we move though the tropic levels
lost
What is the percentage of energy that is used for process or lost as waste heat
80-90%
What is the percentage of energy that is passed to the next organisms in a food web
10-20%
Trophic dynamics
system of tropic levels
describes an organism’s food chain position
