Interdependence and Food Webs Flashcards
What is an ecosystem?
A community of organisms and their physical environment interacting together. The organism in an ecosystem are interdependent.
What does interdependent mean?
Something needs something (to survive)
What do the arrows in a food chain show?
The tip of the arrow is what eats the bottom of the arrow.
They also show the direction of energy flow.
Why are the top predators most likely to be affected by poisons?
Because toxins accumulate as they are passed on.
What is a producer?
First tropic of a food chain. Usually plants, produce food energy from the Sun.
What is a herbivore?
An animal that only eats plants.
What is a consumer?
All animals (but not plants) consume.
What is a primary consumer?
An animal that eats the producer.
What is a secondary consumer?
An animal that eats the primary consumer
What is a tertiary consumer?
An animal that eats the secondary consumer
What is a carnivore?
An animal that only eats animals, not plants.
What is a top carnivore?
Something that is not eaten by anything else.
What is a omnivore?
Something that eats both plants and animals.
What happens to the upper tropics if a primary consumer is removed?
They reduce their size in population.
What happens to a lower tropic if a tertiary consumer is removed?
The secondary consumer will increase in size, but the primary consumer and producer will decrease in size.
