Year 10- Flow of energy

Food Chain

a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten

Trophic Level

The position of an organism in a food chain, food web, pyramid of numbers or pyramid of biomass

Inefficient

The wasting of energy. For example, transfer of energy between trophic levels is inefficient.

Food web

A network of interconnected food chains.

Producer

An organism that makes its own organic nutrients, usually using energy from sunlight, through photosynthesis.

Consumer

An organism that gets its energy by feeding on other organisms.

Primary consumer

An organism that gets its energy by feeding on producers.

secondary consumer

An organism that gets its energy by feeding on Primary consumers.

Tertiary consumer

An organism that gets its energy by feeding on secondary consumers.

Herbivore

An animal that gets its energy by eating plants

carnivore

an animal that gets its energy by eating animals

Decomposer

An organism that gets its energy from dead or waste organic material

Pyramid of Numbers

The amount of organisms at each trophic level.

Pyramid of Biomass

The amount of dry mass at each trophic level (represented in a diagram)

Population

A group of organisms of one species, living in the same area, at the same time.

Community

All of the populations of different species in an ecosystem.

Ecosystem

A unit containing the community of organisms and their environment, interacting together eg. a decomposing log.