Food chains and webs and such things

Question 1

Food chain

Answer 1

a very simplified food web

“a sequence of organisms, each of which use the next lower member of the sequence as a food source”
EX. Plant -> insect -> mouse -> snake -> bird

Question 2

Important facts about food chains

Answer 2

• each organism get energy from the one below
• a plant called producers b/c they create their own food through photosynthesis
• animals are consumers because they cannot create their own food, they must eat plants or other animals to get energy

Question 3

How to organisms in the depths produce energy

Answer 3

chemosynthesis
- bacteria that feed by hydrothermal vents

Question 4

Primary producers

Answer 4

organisms capable of making their own food (autotrophs), they are eaten by primary consumers
- photo/chemeosynthetic
EX. algae, phytoplankton and plants

Question 5

4 types of consumers

Answer 5

1. herbivores: animals that eat only plants
2. carnivore: animals that eat only other animals
3. omnivore: animals that eat other plants and animals
4. detrtivore: animals that eat dead material and organic waste

Question 6

other ways to classify consumers

Answer 6

1. primary consumers - herbivores
2. secondary consumers - carnivores that eat herbivores
3. tertiary consumers - carnivores that eat other carnivores
   Omnivore is its own thing

Question 7

Food chain in Marsh example

Answer 7

producers - marsh ferns, cattails etc.
1. primary consumers - muskrats (eats cattails), wood ducks (eats seeds), grasshoppers (eats leaves)
2. secondary consumers - black rat snake (wood duck eggs), sparrows (eat grasshoppers)
3. tertiary consumers - eagles, osprey (eat snakes, sparrows, etc)

Omnivore - raccoon (eats everything)

Question 8

Food webs

Answer 8

complicated food chain
- map shows that most organisms eat more than just one thing and involve lots of organisms
- shows transfer of energy (where arrow points is the direction of energy transfer)

Question 9

Biomass

Answer 9

• the total mass of the organic matter at each tropic level
• another term for potential energy (energy that can be eaten and used)
• potential energy is transferred between tropic levels and the transfer is very ineffective (about 10%)

Question 10

Ecological Pyramid

Answer 10

• shows relationship between consumers and producers at each tropic level in an ecosystem
• shows relative amounts of energy/matter contained at each tropic level
• pyramid shows which level has the most energy and highest number of organisms

Question 11

ecological succession

Answer 11

a change in a community in which new populations of organisms gradually replace existing ones
- primary
- secondary
- climax community

Question 12

Primary succession

Answer 12

occurs in an area where there are no existing communities and for some reason a new community moves into the area
- things that move onto newly formed volcanic islands

Question 13

Secondary succession

Answer 13

occurs in areas where the existing community is partially damaged and a new community comes in next
- if Michigan was destroyed its the new things that move in

Question 14

Climax Community

Answer 14

a community that is stable and has a great diversity of organisms

Question 15

Biodiversity

Answer 15

in a community where there are a large amount of species and lot of each one (species richness=large gene pool)