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Life Science Ch.2.1
Energy Flow in Ecosystems
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Producer | An organism that can make its own food. |
Consumer | An organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms. |
Herbivore | A consumer that obtains energy by eating only plants. |
Carnivore | A consumer that obtains energy by eating only animals. |
Omnivore | A consumer that obtains energy by eating both plants and animals. |
Scavenger | A carnivore that feeds on bodies of dead or decaying organisms. |
Decomposer | An organism that gets energy by breaking down biotic wastes and dead organisms |
Food chain | A series of events in an ecosystem in which organisms transfer energy by eating and by being eaten. |
Food web | The pattern of overlapping feeding relationships or food chains among the various organisms in an ecosystem. |
Energy pyramid | A diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web. |
first level consumer | organisms that eat producers; also called primary consumers |
Second level consumer | eats first level consumer |
Third level consumer | organisms that eat secondary consumers; also called tertiary consumers |
apex predator | a predator residing at the top of a food chain upon which no other creatures prey |
Autotrophs | organisms that can capture energy from sunlight and use it to produce their own food |
Heterotrophs | organisms that cannot make their own food |
Homeostasis | process by which organisms maintain a relatively stable internal environment |
Photosynthesis | process by which plants use light to convert water and carbon dioxide into sugar (food) |
What do plants need for photosynthesis? | sunlight, carbon dioxide and water |
Chloroplast | an organelle found in plant cells where photosynthesis occurs |