L 3.3 Energy Flow In Ecosystems

Question 1

What happens to energy stored in body tissues when one organism eats another?

Answer 1

Energy moves from the “eaten” to the “eater.” Where it goes from
there depends on who eats whom!

Question 2

How does energy flow through ecosystems?

Answer 2

Energy flows through an ecosystem in a one-way stream, from primary producers to various consumers.

Question 3

food chain

Answer 3

is a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy

by eating and being eaten

Question 4

Can Food chains vary in length?

Answer 4

yes, they can

Question 5

food web

Answer 5

links all of the food chains in an ecosystem together.

Each path through a food web is a food chain.

Question 6

What effect will happen if a disturbances to the food web happens?

Answer 6

their effects can be dramatic.

Question 7

What do the three types of ecological pyramids illustrate?

Answer 7

• Pyramids of energy show the relative amount of energy available at each trophic level
• Pyramid of biomass illustrates the relative amount of living organic matter at each trophic level
• Pyramid of numbers shows the relative number of individual organisms at each trophic level in an ecosystem

Question 8

Each step in a food chain or food web is called

Answer 8

trophic level

Question 9

which animals occupy the trophic levels?

Answer 9

• Primary producers always make up the first trophic level

- Various consumers occupy every other level

Question 10

Ecological pyramids

Answer 10

show the relative amount of energy or matter contained within each trophic level in a given food chain or food web.

Question 11

what happens in Pyramids of Energy

Answer 11

1. Organisms expend much of the energy they acquire on life processes, such as respiration, movement, growth, and reproduction.
2. Most of the remaining energy is released into the environment as
   heat—a byproduct of these activities.

Question 12

The more levels that exist between a producer and a consumer,

Answer 12

the smaller the percentage of the original energy from producers that is available to that consumer.

Question 13

The total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level is called

Answer 13

its biomass

Question 14

where is the the greatest biomass located on the biomass pyramids?

Answer 14

at the base of the pyramid

Question 15

what is the shape of the pyramid of numbers?

Answer 15

similar to the shape of the pyramid of biomass for the same ecosystem, with the numbers of individuals on each level decreasing from the level below it.

Question 16

in what case is the pyramid of number turned upside down?

Answer 16

when the consumers are much smaller than

organisms they feed upon.