Heterotrophs

Question 1

What are herbivores?

Answer 1

Organisms that eat plants

Question 2

What are carnivores?

Answer 2

Organisms that eat animals

Question 3

What are detritivores?

Answer 3

Organisms that eat already nonliving organic matter

Question 4

What is food economics?

Answer 4

Heterotrophs need to balance the ease of getting food and the food quality

Question 5

What does carbon do to food quality?

Answer 5

Provides structure to organisms

Question 6

What does oxygen do to food quality?

Answer 6

Part of water molecules
High water content in organisms

Question 7

What does hydrogen do to food quality?

Answer 7

Part of water molecules

Question 8

What does nitrogen do to food quality?

Answer 8

Part of amino acids and nucleic acids

Question 9

What does phosphorus do to food quality?

Answer 9

Essential for cellular processes such as ATP energy transfer

Question 10

What is the food economics of herbivory?

Answer 10

It is easy to get food but the quality of the food is not great and animals must consume a lot

Question 11

What are the nutritional challenges to herbivory?

Answer 11

Low nitrogen concentrations
Increased C:N ratios are difficult to ingest and digest

Question 12

What are plant physical and chemical defences that herbivores must overcome?

Answer 12

Physical = spines, thorns
Chemical = toxins, digestion reducing compounds

Question 13

How have koalas adapted to a eucalyptus diet?

Answer 13

Long digesting organ
Gut microbes
Long sleep to save energy

Question 14

How have elephants adapted to herbivory?

Answer 14

Consume 10% of body weight daily in food to get enough nutrients

Question 15

How do herbivores like porcupines protect themselves when they are looking for food?

Answer 15

Quills

Question 16

What is the food economics of carnivory?

Answer 16

Its hard to get food but the quality of the food is really good

Question 17

What is the C:N ratio like in animals?

Answer 17

Little variation, low ratio
Predators have a large number of prey available to them

Question 18

How do carnivores choose their food?

Answer 18

Based on their ability and efficiency of capturing and consuming different prey

Question 19

What is a challenge that carnivores face?

Answer 19

Catching prey

Question 20

What adaptations do carnivores have?

Answer 20

Instead of digestive adaptations, they have adaptations that help them hunt effectively

Question 21

What is the food economics of detritivores?

Answer 21

Getting food is easy and the quality can be good or bad

Question 22

What do decomposers contribute to?

Answer 22

Decomposition and nutrient recycling

Question 23

How do detritivores consume food?

Answer 23

Must ingest and digest dead matter via internal processes

Question 24

How do decomposers consume food?

Answer 24

Cna directly absorb nutrients through chemical and biological processes

Question 25

What are dead plants rich in?

Answer 25

Carbon and energy, but poor in nitrogen

Question 26

What might fresh detritus have?

Answer 26

Considerable chemical defenses present

Question 27

Are detritivores limited by food?

Answer 27

No, there is typically a high abundance of dead plants

Question 28

What factors affect detritivores?

Answer 28

Abiotic environment and chemical composition of food
Limited soil moisture may lead to reduced activity

Question 29

What do omnivores consume?

Answer 29

Gain energy from both plant and animal matter

Question 30

How do mixotrophs gain energy?

Answer 30

Gain energy from photosynthesis and from consuming organic material

Question 31

What are examples of heterotrophic plants?

Answer 31

Saprophytes
Parasites

Question 32

How do saprophytes obtain food?

Answer 32

Obtain food from dead matter

Question 33

How do parasites obtain food?

Answer 33

Obtain food from living plant host

Question 34

What are epiphytes?

Answer 34

Grow on other plants but don’t parasitize on them

Question 35

What are insectivorous plants?

Answer 35

Obtain additional nutrients from trapped insects

Question 36

What is functional response?

Answer 36

The relationship between food availability and feeding rate

Question 37

What influences feeding rate?

Answer 37

Animals can only physically shove so much food into their mouths
Time to digest food
Time to find food
Time to handle/process food
Sometimes it is safer to hide than to eat

Question 38

What are type 1 functional responses curves?

Answer 38

Feeding rate increases linearly due to quick food processing to incipient limiting concentration
At ILC feeding rate levels off abruptly

Question 39

What are type 2 functional response curves?

Answer 39

Feeding rate increases linearly at low concentration, at a slower rate at moderate concentrations, then levels off at high concentrations
limited by food search and handling and lower densities
At higher densities, food is widely available

Question 40

What are type 3 functional response curves?

Answer 40

Feeding rates are S-curved, low at low food densities, increases greatly at intermediate food densities, then levels off at high food densities

Question 41

What is optimal foraging theory?

Answer 41

Describes how organisms feed as an optimizing process
-maximizes or minimizes some quantity, such as energy intake or predation risk

Question 42

What does optimal foraging theory attempt to explain and predict?

Answer 42

What an animal will eat
When an animal will eat
Where an animal will eat

Question 43

What are limiting factors in plants?

Answer 43

Nutrients in soils, water, and sunlight