Food Webs 1 Flashcards
Define links.
Interaction between two species, generally consumer and consumed, direction of energy flow.
Define nodes.
Species or groups of species.
Define trophic position.
The trophic level of a species or group of species.
What is connectance and how do you calculate it?
Measure of complexity - calculated by dividing the number of actual links by the number of potential links.
Define linkage density.
The number of links per species.
What is the energy flow hypothesis?
Not enough energy flowing through the system to support another trophic level.
Define ecological efficiency.
A measure of the fraction of energy entering one trophic level that is passed on to the next level.
Define detritivore.
Animals that feed on dead material.
Define saprophage.
An organism that feeds on decaying organic matter, other dead organisms, mainly bacteria, fungi and some insect larvae.
