ENVI SCIENCE

Food Chain

Food Chain

___________ refers to a sequence or chain of organism existing in a natural community in which each link of the chain feeds on the one below and is eaten by the one above.

producers

They are called ______________ because only they can manufacture food from inorganic raw materials.

plants.

The source of all food is the activity of autotrophs, mainly photosynthesis of ____________

primary

This food feeds herbivores, called _________-consumers.

Carnivores

________ that feed on herbivores are called secondary consumers.

tertiary

Carnivores that feed on other carnivores are ___________(or higher) consumers.

Food Web

____________ is a complex pattern of interconnected food chains in a community where the organisms are typically connected by arrows that show the direction of energy flow.

Trophic Level

__________: A level of nutrition or “link” in a food chain. In accordance with the Second Law of Thermodynamics, food chains seldom have more than six links.

Producers.

_____________ The autotrophs photosynthetic plants that occupy the first trophic level of a food chain.

Autotrophic

___________. Mode of nutrition in which the organism is able to synthesize its own energy-rich carbohydrates molecules.

Heterotrophic

________________. Mode of nutrition in which an organism is unable to synthesize its own energy-rich carbohydrate molecules, and is parasitic or saprophytic on other organisms. Parasitic heterotrophs live on other organisms, while saprophytic heterotrophs depend on dead, decaying organic matter.

Lichen

_____________. A symbiotic relationship between an algae (autotrophic, phycobiont or photobiont) and a fungus (heterotrophic mycobiont). This type of symbiotic relationship is mutually beneficial to both organisms.

Primary Consumers

___________________: Plant eater (herbivores) that occupy the second trophic level of a food chain.

Herbivore

________________. An animal that eats herbage or plant materials. The largest animals on land today are herbivores. The largest dinosaurs were also herbivores.

Granivore

______________. A herbivore (such as a rodent) with a diet primarily of grains and seeds.

Omnivore

______________. An animal that eats both plants and animal materials. There is some disagreement among biologists (especially vegetarians), but humans are probably omnivores rather than carnivores or herbivores.

Insectivore

___________. A predatory animal (such as a shrew or bat) with a diet consisting chiefly of insects.

Carnivore

___________________. An animal that feeds on the flesh of other animals.

Secondary Consumers

_____________: Carnivorous animals that occupy the third trophic level and feed on the herbivores of the second trophic level.

Predator

______________. An animal that kills and feeds upon another animal. There are some rare cases were an animal actually kills and eats its mate (after mating).

Prey

______________. An animal that is haunted and killed for food by another animal.

Tertiary Consumers

________________: Larger carnivores of the fourth trophic level that kill and eat the smaller carnivores (and herbivores) of the third and second trophic levels.

Decomposers

_______________: Organisms of the fifth (or higher0 trophic level (including fungi and bacterial) that decompose the dead members of lower trophic levels, thus returning essential elements, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, to the ecosystem. In some food chains, the decomposers occupy the sixth trophic level and are preceded by a fifth trophic level occupied by scavengers (like insect larvae).

Pyramid of Energy

_____________. Energy that is originally stored by the autotrophic plants is dissipated along the food chain. The more links in the food chain, the more dissipated or unusable energy. This is generally a 90 percent loss at each link of the food chain; creating a pyramid-shaped diagram that is wider at the bottom and narrow at the top.

Pyramid of Mass & Numbers

________________. The mass (weight) and numbers of organisms decreases along a food chain (e. g. grass-grasshoppers-frogs-snakes-hawk). It takes many pounds of grass (or numerous grass plants) to support one hawk at the top of the food chain.