Trophic levels

Trophic levels

The position in a food chain that is determined by number of energy transfers from primary producers to that level

List the different trophic levels

Primary producer → Primary consumer → Secondary consumers → Tertiary consumers → Quaternary consumers

Food chain

Describes feeding relationships between species in an ecosystem

Food web

Sets of interconnected food chains

Trophic efficiency

Fraction of energy transferred from one trophic level and MADE AVAILABLE AS BIOMASS in the next trophic level

Metabolic diversity

All organisms MUST acquire chemical energy that is used to make ATP and obtain carbon compounds that can serve as building blocks for synthesis of cellular components

Phototrophs

Light is used to excite electrons → ATP from phosphorylation

Chemotrophs

Oxidation of reduced compounds

Organotrophs

Oxidize ORGANIC molecules with high potential energy

Lithotrophs

Oxidize INORGANIC molecules with high potential energy

Autotrophs

Synthesize their own compounds from simple starting materials (CO2 and CH4)

Heterotrophs

Absorb ready to use organic compounds (building block compounds) produced by other organisms in their environment

Chemosynthetic autotrophs

Bacteria and archaea can oxidize ammonium, nitrate, iron, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen, or carbon monoxide for energy to fix carbon

Photosynthetic autotrophs

Energy from sun excites electrons in photosynthesis in chlorophyll. Movement of electrons through chlorophyll and ETC produce ATP and molecules like NADPH