6.3 Use a food web to identify and distinguish producers, consumers, and decomposers, and explain the transfer of energy through trophic levels. Describe how relationships among organisms (predation, parasitism, competition, commensalism, mutualism) add to the complexity of biological communities.
Vocabulary
Tier 3
Autotroph – organisms that make their own food from sunlight (plants)
Heterotroph - organisms that must find their own food (fungus, animals)
Biotic – the part of the environment that is living
Abiotic – the part of the environment that is nonliving (water, air, rocks)
Ecosystem – all the organisms and the physical environment of a specific area
Herbivores – eat only plants
Carnivores – eat only meat/blood
Omnivores – eat meat and plants
Predator – the hunter
Prey – organism being hunted
Producers - organisms that use photosynthesis (autotrophs); plants, some bacteria, some protists
Consumers- organisms that need to eat (heterotrophs), animals, fungi, most bacteria and protists
Parasitism - type of relationship where one species take from another and does NOT give anything back (tapeworms, infections etc)
Biomass - the amount the organisms weigh
Trophic level - Describes how an organism eats, whether it is from the sun, eating plants, or eating animals
Mutualism - both organisms benefit from their relationship; ex. a bird eating bugs off a rhino's back
Commensalism - one organism benefits and the other is not harmed or helped
Decomposers - recycle nutrients by eating dead organic material
Primary consumers - eat plants
Secondary consumer - eats plant-eaters
Tertiary consumer - eats animals that eat meat
Heterotroph - organisms that must find their own food (fungus, animals)
Biotic – the part of the environment that is living
Abiotic – the part of the environment that is nonliving (water, air, rocks)
Ecosystem – all the organisms and the physical environment of a specific area
Herbivores – eat only plants
Carnivores – eat only meat/blood
Omnivores – eat meat and plants
Predator – the hunter
Prey – organism being hunted
Producers - organisms that use photosynthesis (autotrophs); plants, some bacteria, some protists
Consumers- organisms that need to eat (heterotrophs), animals, fungi, most bacteria and protists
Parasitism - type of relationship where one species take from another and does NOT give anything back (tapeworms, infections etc)
Biomass - the amount the organisms weigh
Trophic level - Describes how an organism eats, whether it is from the sun, eating plants, or eating animals
Mutualism - both organisms benefit from their relationship; ex. a bird eating bugs off a rhino's back
Commensalism - one organism benefits and the other is not harmed or helped
Decomposers - recycle nutrients by eating dead organic material
Primary consumers - eat plants
Secondary consumer - eats plant-eaters
Tertiary consumer - eats animals that eat meat
Energy Relationships
Food Webs: Food webs use an arrow to show where the energy goes. So if a bird eats a bug, the arrow goes from bug to bird
BUG ---> Bird
*All food webs begin with autotrophs (producers) using sunlight to make sugar
*All food webs end with organisms dying and being decomposed
*The higher up on the food chain, the less animals there are, for example there are always many more mice than hawks
Trophic Levels:
There are usually four trophic levels in an ecosystem, and they all go to decomposers when they die
Producers: This is the trophic level where sunlight is turned into energy by photosynthesis, mainly by plants
Primary Consumers/Herbivores: This level is animals that eat plants, like bugs and deer
Secondary Consumers/Carnivores: This level is animals that eat meat/blood from herbivores
Tertiary/Higher Order Consumers: These are carnivores that eat other carnivores; like a human eating fish
Notice that each trophic level up loses 90% of its energy. This is due to heat loss. Just like you, you eat to make heat. Your body is 98.6 degrees. That is hot! That takes a lot of energy. Here, the grass has mass of 1000 kg and the deer total is 100 kg
This is called the 10% Rule.
This is called the 10% Rule.
Symbiosis:
Mutualism, Commensalism or Parasitism
Mutualism:
Some organisms live in or around other organisms and evolve together. Both benefit from this type of relationship
Here, our friend the Clown Fish has evolved an immunity to the sting of the anemone, so predators won't try to eat it. The anemone benefits from the fish cleaning its tentacles and possibly aiding its reproduction.