Ecology and Energy Flow Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering heterotrophs, autotrophs, chemosynthesis, the 10% rule, and energy loss mechanisms in food chains based on lecture notes.

Autotrophs

Organisms that make their own food.

Heterotrophs

Organisms that must eat others or eat dead stuff to get energy because they cannot make their own food from the sun.

Decomposers

Organisms classified as heterotrophs because they cannot make their own food from the sun like plants and must eat dead stuff to get energy.

Chemosynthetic Bacteria

Deep sea vent producers that make food from chemicals like hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$) coming out of vents instead of using sunlight.

Chemosynthesis

The process used by deep sea vent producers to make food from chemicals like hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$) in the absence of sunlight.

10% Rule

The ecological concept stating that at each level of a food chain, only 10% of energy passes up to the next level, while 90% is lost as waste, heat, movement, and breathing.

Food Chain Limit

The restriction preventing food chains from being longer than 4-5 levels due to almost no energy being left after 90% is lost at each level.

Uneaten Plant Material

One reason primary consumers do not get all solar energy, as parts like leaves, roots, and stems are left behind and die without being eaten.

Undigested Waste

One reason primary consumers do not convert all consumed energy into body mass, as food that is not digested comes out as poop/waste.

Metabolic Heat Loss

The primary way energy in primary consumers is lost rather than stored as chemical energy, occurring when energy is used to move, breathe, and keep warm.