Organisation of an Ecosystem

Question 1

Define population

Answer 1

A species that occupy the same habitat.

Question 2

Define habitat

Answer 2

The place in which an organism lives.

Question 3

Define community

Answer 3

Populations of different species

interacting.

Question 4

Define ecosystem

Answer 4

The interactions between the biotic and

abiotic factors in an area.

Question 5

What do food chains show?

Answer 5

Food chains show the feeding relationships of different organisms and the flow of energy between the organisms.

Question 6

Define biomass

Answer 6

The total mass of living material.

Question 7

What are trophic levels?

Answer 7

The stages in a food chain.

Question 8

What do arrows in a food chain

represent?

Answer 8

The direction of biomass transfer.

Question 9

Describe a simple food chain

Answer 9

producer → primary consumer →

secondary consumer → tertiary consumer.

Question 10

What is a producer?

Answer 10

An organism that makes its own food.

Question 11

What types of organisms are primary

producers?

Answer 11

Photosynthetic organisms like green
plants and algae that trap energy from
the sun.

Question 12

What is a primary consumer?

Answer 12

An organism that feeds on producers.

Question 13

What is a secondary consumer?

Answer 13

An organism that feeds on primary

consumers.

Question 14

What is a tertiary consumer?

Answer 14

An organism that feeds on secondary

consumers.

Question 15

What is a predator?

Answer 15

A consumer that kills and eats other

animals.

Question 16

What is prey?

Answer 16

An animal that is killed and eaten by

another animal.

Question 17

Describe the pattern of predators and

prey in a stable community

Answer 17

The numbers of predators and prey rise

and fall in cycles.

Question 18

Why are producers the first trophic level?

Answer 18

● Producers provide all biomass for the food
chain (production of glucose via
photosynthesis).
● The rest of the food chain involves the transfer of this biomass.

Question 19

Describe how materials cycle through
the living and non-living components of
an ecosystem

Answer 19

● Organisms take in elements from their surroundings e.g. soil, air.
● Elements converted to complex molecules which become biomass.
● Elements transferred along food chains.
● Elements returned to environment during excretion and decomposition of dead organisms.