Biology unit 36.1: Feeding relationships determine the path of energy and chemicals in ecosystems

What are producers?

Organisms that produce chemical energy of organic compounds from light energy

What are consumers?

Organisms that feed on producers and/or other consumers to obtain chemical energy

What are decomposers?

Organisms that break down waste and feed on dead organisms

What is the energy cycle for organisms in an ecosystem

Light energy → chemical energy → heat energy

What is necessary for keeping the ecosystem alive?

The producers getting enough light to produce energy

What can be recycled in the ecosystem?

Chemicals such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen

What is the trophic level

The position an organism occupies in a food web or chain

What is a food chain

The pathway of food transfer from one trophic level to another

What are the main producers in a marine and terrestrial food chain?

Marine: phytoplankton, protists and algae

Terrestrial: Flower

What are the 3 types of consumers?

Herbivore, carnivore, omnivore

What are herbivores

Organisms that only eat producers like horses

What are carnivores

Organisms that only feed on herbivores such as lions

What are omnivores?

Organisms that feed on both producers and consumers such as humans

What are the main consumers in a terrestrial and marine food chain

Marine: Zooplankton (1), Herring(2), Cod(3)

Terrestrial: Grasshopper(1), Mouse(2), Snake(3)

What is detritus?

Wastes of dead organisms

What are some animals that feed of detritus

Earthworm, crayfish, catfish and vultures

What are the main decomposers in an ecosystem?

Bacteria and fungi

Where are bacteria and fungi found?

Either deep in the ocean or in the soil in enormous numbers

What is a food web

The pattern of feeding represented by an interconnected and branching food chain is called a food web