Question | Answer |
Major trophic levels | producers (plants) - primary consumer (eat plants) - secondary consumer (eat primary consumers) - tertiary consumer (eat secondary consumers) |
shows who eats who, ocean food webs more complex then terrestrial ones, food chain is a simplified version | food web |
Energy flow in food web | only 10% of the usable energy is transferred (most lost as heat) |
shows the amount of biomass at levels within an ecosystem | biomass pyramid |
shows the number of organisms at levels within an ecosystem | numeric pyramid |
amount of biomass produced per unit time, most productive systems on earth include coral reefs, tropical rainforests, estuaries, marshes; least productive include tundra, desert, open ocean | productivity |
total amount of energy produced by autotrophs | gross pyramid production |
gross primary production minus energy used by plants themselves, this is the amount available to primary consumers | net primary production |
place where an organism lives | habitat |
role an organism plays within its environment, who it interacts with, etc. | Niche |
behavior where animals defend an area containing resources | territoriality |
no two species can occupy the same niche | competitive exclusion principle |
tropical rainforest characteristics | shallow, nutrient poor soils (most nutrients tied up in biomass – trees, etc), being rapidly destroyed |
reasons for tropical rainforest destruction | logging, cattle ranching, farming, mining (building roads into forests speeds their decline) |
Reasons to preserve tropical rainforests | intrinsic value (value in its own right, right to live principle), potential source of medicines, role in climate regulation, economic value |
solutions to preserve tropical rainforests | ecotourism, give local people a stake in preservation |
method used to clear tropical forests, cut trees, then burn | Slash and burn agriculture |
epiphytes | generally plants which get their nutrients from the air and grow on trees but are not parasitic |