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Questions and Answers
What is the first step in a food chain?
What is the first step in a food chain?
- Primary consumer
- Producers (correct)
- Tertiary consumer
- Secondary consumer
Energy flows through an ecosystem in multiple directions.
Energy flows through an ecosystem in multiple directions.
False (B)
What is a food web?
What is a food web?
A network of complex interactions formed by the feeding relationships among various organisms in an ecosystem.
The primary consumers in a food chain are typically _____ that feed on producers.
The primary consumers in a food chain are typically _____ that feed on producers.
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Match the following trophic levels with their corresponding type of organism:
Match the following trophic levels with their corresponding type of organism:
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Study Notes
Energy Flow in Ecosystems
- Energy flows in a one-way path through an ecosystem.
- The sun is the ultimate source of energy for most ecosystems.
- Plants, or producers, convert sunlight into glucose molecules through photosynthesis.
- Energy is transferred to consumers when they eat plants or other animals.
Food Chains
- Food chains show the transfer of energy from one organism to another.
- All food chains start with producers (autotrophs).
- Energy is transferred from producers to herbivores (primary consumers).
- Energy then flows to carnivores (secondary consumers), and potentially tertiary consumers.
- Example food chains:
- Grass → mouse → snake → hawk
- Marine algae → zooplankton → small minnow → squid → whale
Food Webs
- Food webs are complex interactions between different food chains within an ecosystem.
- They show the interconnectedness of feeding relationships between many organisms.
- Consumers often eat multiple prey types, creating complex interactions.
- A food web links all food chains within an ecosystem.
Trophic Levels
- Each step in a food chain is a trophic level, representing an organism's position in the energy transfer sequence.
- Producers occupy the first trophic level (primary producers).
- Herbivores occupy the second trophic level (primary consumers).
- Carnivores occupy the third trophic level (secondary consumers).
- Tertiary consumers eat secondary consumers.
- Most ecosystems have three or four trophic levels.
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