Energy Pyramid

Biology

Producers

Organisms that make their own food.

Detritivores

A type of heterotroph, or organisms that consume dead and decaying organic matter known as detritus to obtain energy and nutrition.

Cellular Respiration Equation

C 6 H 12 O 6 + 6 O 2 --> 6 CO 2 + 6 H 2 O + ATP

10% Rule / 10% Rule of Energy Transfer

Each trophic level can only give 10% of its energy to the next level.

Carnivores

An organism that mostly eats meat, or the flesh of animals.

Primary Consumers

Animals that eat plants.

Secondary Consumers

Largely carnivores that feed on the primary consumers or herbivores.

Apex Predators

A predator that exists at the very top of the food chain.

Cellular Respiration

The process by which cells derive energy from glucose.

Tertiary Consumers

Animals that consume other animals to obtain nutrition from them.

Photosynthesis

The process by which green plants and certain other organisms transform light energy into chemical energy.

Food Chain

A linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another.

Food Web

A complex network of interconnecting and overlapping food chains showing feeding relationships within a community.

Heterotrophs

An organism that eats other plants or animals for energy and nutrients.

Keystone Species

An organism that helps define an entire ecosystem.

Herbivores

An organism that mostly feeds on plants.

Photosynthesis Equation

Carbon dioxide + water + sunlight -> oxygen and glucose.

Quaternary Consumers

An animal that consumes at the very top of the food chain, after the primary consumer.

Autotrophs

An organism that can produce its own food using light, water, carbon dioxide, or other chemicals.