APES Mod 7: Trophic Levels, Energy Flow & the 10% Rule, Food Chain, & Food Webs

consumer

An organism that is incapable of photosynthesis and must therefore obtain its energy by consuming other organisms. Also known as heterotroph.

Herbivore

A consumer that eats producers. Also known as primary consumer.

Carnivore

A consumer that eats other consumers.

Secondary consumer

A carnivore that eats primary consumers.

Tertiary consumer

A carnivore that eats secondary consumers.

Trophic levels

The successive levels of organisms consuming one another

Food chain

The sequence of consumption from producers through tertiary consumers.

Scavenger

An organism that consumes dead animals.

Detritivore

An organism that specializes in breaking down dead tissues and waste products into smaller particles.

Decomposers

Fungi and bacteria that complete the breakdown process by converting organic matter into small elements and molecules that can be recycled back into the ecosystem.

Ecological efficiency

The proportion of consumed energy that can be passed from one trophic level to another.

The 10% rule

Of the total biomass available at a given trophic level, only about 10 percent can be converted into energy at the next higher trophic level.

Trophic pyramid

A representation of the distribution of biomass, numbers, or energy among trophic levels.

Food web

A model of how energy and matter move through two or more interconnected food chains.