Midterm: Food Web,Food Chain and Energy Flow

Food chain

a linear sequence of organisms which starts from producer organisms and ends with decomposer species in which shows the flow of energy from one organism to the other.

Organism

any individual entity or creature that embodies the properties of life; it is a single-celled life form and a synonym for "life form."

Species

a class of individuals having some common characteristics or qualities; the basic unit of classification.

Producers

organisms represented primarily by green plants and photosynthetic bacteria that produce energy through photosynthesis.

Consumers

organisms that include herbivores, carnivores, and other animals depending on producers or other consumers for energy.

Autotrophs (self-feeders)

organisms that can produce their own food using materials from inorganic sources; the term comes from “auto” (self) and “troph” (food).

Heterotrophs (other-feeders)

organisms that cannot capture light or chemical energy to make their own food and instead obtain organic molecules by consuming other organisms or their byproducts.

Food web

represents feeding relationships within a community, implying the transfer of food energy from plants through herbivores to carnivores, and showing a realistic representation of energy flow in an ecosystem.

Trophic level

each step in a food chain or food web where energy is stored as biomass; only about 10% of the energy from one level is transferred to the next.

Energy transfer inefficiency

the loss of energy at each trophic level due to heat from respiration, undigested food excreted as waste, and uneaten organisms that die and become food for decomposers.

10%

of the energy that's stored as

biomass in one trophic level—per unit time— ends up stored as biomass in the next trophic level—per the same unit time.