Food web
describes the eating relationships between
species within an ecosystem or a particular
living place.
Many types of food chains or webs are
applicable depending on habitat or
environmental factors.
Food web
Trophic Levels
describes the position that an organism
occupies in a food chain
what an organism eats, and what eats the
organism.
Producers
An autotroph is an organism that produces
complex organic compounds from simple
inorganic molecules
using energy from light (by photosynthesis)
plants & algae
Consumer
A Heterotroph is an organism that uses
organic substrates to get its chemical energy
for its life cycle.
This contrasts with autotrophs such as plants
which are able to directly use sources of
energy such as light to produce organic
substrates from inorganic carbon dioxide.
Animals, Fungus eat other things
Consumers
Herbivores
Herbivory is a form of predation in which an
organism, known as a herbivore, consumes
principally autotrophs
such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing
bacteria.
Herbivory is generally restricted to animals
eating plants.
Organisms that feed on autotrophs are
known as primary consumers.
Herbivore
Carnivore
A carnivore means meat eater
An animal that derives its energy and nutrient
requirements from a diet consisting mainly or
exclusively of vertebrate and/or invertebrate
animal tissue, whether through predation or
scavenging
A carnivore that sits at the top of the
foodchain is an apex predator.
Carnivores
omnivore
Omnivores are species that eat both plants and animals as
their primary food source.
They are opportunistic, general feeders not specifically adapted
to eat and digest either meat or plant material exclusively
Crows are another example of an omnivore that many people see
every day
detritivore
detrivore
Detritivores are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by
consuming detritus
decomposing organic matter)
primary vs secondary vs
tertiary
Primary Consumer - organism which gets its food from plants
(rabbit, squirrel, deer, mouse, honey bee, aphid, grasshopper,
tadpole, duck, black bear, mosquito, humpback whale, other
animals at times).
Secondary Consumer - organism which gets its food mainly
by eating primary consumers, but can also be prey itself.
(weasel, shrew, mole, merganser, snake, spider, frog, most fish,
other animals at times).
Tertiary Consumer - organism which gets its food mainly by
eating other consumers, but rarely becomes prey itself. (hawk,
wolf, shark, fox, dragonfly, orca, human). APEX PREDATOR
Decomposer
Decomposers and scavengers break down dead
plants and animals.
They also break down the waste (poop) of other
organisms.
Decomposers are very important for any ecosystem.
If they weren't in the ecosystem, the plants would
not get essential nutrients, and dead matter and
waste would pile up.
There are two kinds of decomposers, scavengers and
decomposers.
decomposers
biomass pyramid
pyramid of biomass is a diagram of
different trophic levels in an ecosystem
usually plotted as dry matter per unit area or
volume.
Typically this gives a gradually sloping
pyramid, except where the sizes of organisms
vary dramatically from one trophic level to
another.
Biomass pyramid
Energy Pyramid
Energy Flow
Energy flows in a one way direction
At each level of the food chain, about 90% of the energy is lost
in the form of heat.
The total energy passed from one level to the next is only about
one-tenth of the energy received from the previous organism.
Therefore, as you move up the food chain, there is less energy
available.
Animals located at the top of the food chain need a lot more
food to meet their energy needs.
NOTE!! Each organism in the food chain is only transfering onetenth of its energy to the next organism.
Nutrient Cycling
Land is a community of living things. This idea argues for the study
of ecology.
Land is to be loved and respected. This idea argues for
conservation ethics.
Land yields a harvest of culture. Leopold calls this "a fact long
known, but forgotten recently."