Chapter 19 Flashcards
Organisms and their environment (17 cards)
Carnivore
An animal that gets its energy by eating other animals
Community
All of the populations of different species in an ecosystem
Consumer
An organism that gets its energy by feeding on other organisms
Decomposer
An organism that gets its energy from dead or waste organic material
Ecosystem
A unit containing the community of organisms and their environment, interacting together
Food Chain:
A chart showing the transfer of energy from one organism to the next, beginning with a producer
Food Web:
A network of interconnected food chains
Herbivore
An animal that gets its energy by eating plants
Population
A group of organisms of one species, living in the same area, at the same time
Producer
An organism that makes its organic nutrients, usually using energy from sunlight, through photosynthesis
Trophic Level
The position of an organism in a food chain, food web or ecological pyramid
What is the principal source of energy for biological systems?
The Sun.
Why does energy not return in a cycle like nutrients?
Energy is lost as heat and through processes like respiration and movement.
What do the arrows in a food chain represent?
The transfer of energy, pointing towards the organism that consumes the previous one.
Why are food webs more accurate than food chains?
Most organisms consume more than one food source.
What shape do pyramids of biomass usually form? Why?
A pyramid shape, because the total living material decreases at higher trophic levels.
What is the efficiency of energy transfer in food chains?
About 10% of energy is passed to the next trophic level; 90% is lost.
