Ecology Test Notes – Food Chains, Food Webs, and Energy Flow

Vocabulary flashcards focused on key terms from Ecology Test Notes regarding food chains, food webs, tropic levels, and energy flow.

Food Chain

A linear series of feeding relationships (who eats whom).

Food Web

A visual diagram that maps all interlinked food chains in a community, showing multiple paths of energy and matter flow.

Trophic Level

A rank in the feeding hierarchy.

Producers

The first trophic level, which make their own food via photosynthesis or chemosynthesis (e.g., plants, phytoplankton, cyanobacteria).

Primary Consumers

Organisms that eat producers; typically herbivores or zooplankton.

Secondary Consumers

Organisms that eat primary consumers.

Tertiary Consumers

Organisms that eat secondary consumers.

Detritivores

Organisms that scavenge waste and dead organisms (e.g., earthworms, some insects).

Decomposers

Organisms that break down nonliving matter into simple molecules (e.g., soil bacteria, fungi).

Energy Transfer & the 10% Rule

Only ~10% of the energy is passed on to the next trophic level; most energy is lost as heat or used for cellular respiration.

Community

An assemblage of populations living in the same area.

Community Ecologists

Scientists who study species interactions, coexistence, and changes within communities.

Rule of Nature

A principle that states 'Eat or Be Eaten'.

Example of the Blue Whale

Blue whales feed primarily on krill and can eat up to 40 million krill per day, illustrating energy flow from primary consumers to top consumers.

Phytoplankton

Producers in the Great Lakes ecosystem, including algae, protists, and cyanobacteria.

Zooplankton

Primary consumers in the Great Lakes ecosystem that feed on phytoplankton.