Modeling Food Webs in Darién, Panama

Vocabulary flashcards based on the Modeling Food Webs in Darién, Panama student handout.

WildCam Darién

A citizen science website supported by the activity, focused on the tropical forest ecosystem in Darién National Park in Panama.

Darién National Park

A national park located in Panama containing a tropical forest ecosystem featured in the food web modeling activity.

Producer

An organism, such as a plant, that converts light energy from the sun into usable chemical energy transferred to herbivores and carnivores.

Consumer

An organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms within an ecosystem.

Food chain

A simple model that identifies feeding relationships and the flow of energy through a single pathway in an ecosystem.

Ecological force (or disturbance)

An abiotic factor or environmental event (such as fire) introduced into an ecosystem that impacts energy flow and organisms across trophic levels.

Biotic components

The living organisms in an ecosystem, such as plants and animals, that influence food chains.

Abiotic components

The nonliving elements of an ecosystem, referred to in this activity as ecological forces or disturbances.

Rule of 10 percent

An ecological principle stating that only about $10\%$ of available energy at one trophic level is transferred to the next level, while the remaining $90\%$ is used for living, growing, and reproducing.

Energy pyramid

A model quantifying energy flow across trophic levels, illustrating that primary producers possess the most available energy ($100\%$) while higher trophic levels possess significantly less ($0.1\%$ for tertiary consumers).

Food web

A complex ecological model depicting interconnected feeding relationships and multiple pathways of energy flow within a community.

Primary producer

The foundational trophic level consisting of photosynthetic organisms that convert solar energy into chemical energy.

Primary consumer

An organism at the second trophic level that consumes primary producers.

Secondary consumer

An organism at the third trophic level that feeds on primary consumers.

Tertiary consumer

An organism at the fourth trophic level that feeds on secondary consumers.

Quaternary consumer

An organism at the fifth trophic level in a food web that consumes tertiary consumers.

G. Tyler Miller, Jr.

An American Chemist quoted in 1971 who illustrated energy transfer using the example that supporting one man for a year requires 300 trout, 90,000 frogs, 27 million grasshoppers, and 1,000 tons of grass.