All flashcards
Flashcard 1: What do decomposers return to the environment that helps producers grow again?
Answer: Nutrients (recycled matter). Matter cycles while energy flows one-way.
Flashcard 2: What is the term for a consumer that eats secondary consumers?
Answer: Tertiary consumer. Third-level consumer, eats carnivores.
Flashcard 3: What is the term for a consumer that eats primary consumers?
Answer: Secondary consumer. Feeds on herbivores, second step from producers.
Flashcard 4: What is the term for a consumer that eats only producers?
Answer: Primary consumer (herbivore). First-level consumers eat only plants.
Flashcard 5: What happens to most energy at each trophic transfer in an ecosystem model?
Answer: It is lost as heat through life processes. Organisms use energy for metabolism and movement.
Flashcard 6: Which statement best describes energy availability at higher trophic levels?
Answer: Less energy is available at higher trophic levels. Energy decreases as it moves up the chain.
Flashcard 7: What is a decomposer in an energy-flow model?
Answer: An organism that breaks down dead matter and wastes for energy. Recycles nutrients back to soil for producers.
Flashcard 8: What is a trophic level in an energy-flow model?
Answer: A feeding position in a food chain or food web. Each level represents who eats whom.
Flashcard 9: What is the approximate fraction of energy transferred to the next trophic level?
Answer: About 10%. The 10% rule shows energy loss between levels.
Flashcard 10: What is a consumer in an ecosystem energy model?
Answer: An organism that gets energy by eating other organisms. They cannot make their own food like producers can.
Flashcard 11: Which model best shows that energy decreases at higher trophic levels?
Answer: Energy pyramid. Its triangular shape shows energy loss at each level.
Flashcard 12: Identify the correct arrow direction: grass and rabbit in a food chain model.
Answer: Grass rabbit. Arrow points from grass (eaten) to rabbit (eater).
Flashcard 13: Identify the trophic level: a hawk that eats a snake that ate a mouse that ate plants.
Answer: Tertiary consumer. Count four levels: plant, mouse, snake, hawk.
Flashcard 14: Which group is missing if a model shows only producers and consumers but no recycling?
Answer: Decomposers. Without them, nutrients wouldn't return to producers.
Flashcard 15: Choose the correct sequence for energy flow in a simple ecosystem model.
Answer: Sun producers consumers decomposers. Energy flows one-way through all organism types.
Flashcard 16: Which organisms return nutrients to the soil or water by breaking down matter?
Answer: Decomposers. This completes the nutrient cycle in ecosystems.
Flashcard 17: What is a detritivore in an energy flow model?
Answer: An organism that eats dead organic matter (detritus). Examples include earthworms and millipedes.
Flashcard 18: What is the role of tertiary consumers in energy flow models?
Answer: They eat secondary consumers and are higher-level predators. They're at the fourth trophic level.
Flashcard 19: What is the role of secondary consumers in energy flow models?
Answer: They eat primary consumers and transfer energy upward. They're carnivores at the third trophic level.
Flashcard 20: What is the role of primary consumers in energy flow models?
Answer: They eat producers and transfer energy to higher levels. They're herbivores at the second trophic level.
Flashcard 21: What is a trophic level in an ecosystem model?
Answer: A feeding level in a food chain or food web. Each level represents organisms with similar energy sources.
Flashcard 22: Which term names a model that shows many connected feeding relationships?
Answer: Food web. It's more realistic than a simple chain.
Flashcard 23: Which term names a model that shows one pathway of energy transfer?
Answer: Food chain. It's a linear sequence of who eats whom.
Flashcard 24: What does an arrow in a food chain model represent?
Answer: Direction of energy transfer (from food to eater). Energy flows from the organism being eaten to the eater.
Flashcard 25: What is the original source of energy for most food webs?
Answer: The Sun. Producers convert solar energy into food energy.
Flashcard 26: Which organisms are at the first trophic level in an energy pyramid?
Answer: Producers. They capture energy directly from sunlight.
Flashcard 27: What is a decomposer in an ecosystem energy model?
Answer: An organism that breaks down dead matter and wastes for energy. They recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem.
Flashcard 28: What happens to most energy as it moves from one trophic level to the next?
Answer: It is lost as heat through life processes. Only about 10% transfers to the next level.
Flashcard 29: What is a producer in an ecosystem energy model?
Answer: An organism that makes its own food, usually by photosynthesis. They convert light energy into chemical energy in food.
Flashcard 30: If producers store 1000 energy units, about how many reach primary consumers using the 10% rule?
Answer: 100 energy units. 1000×0.1=100 energy units transfer.