6 - Unit 3 Ecology final flashcard

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What is biodiversity?

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Biodiversity refers to the variety of life in a particular habitat or ecosystem, including the number of different species, genetic diversity, and ecosystem diversity.

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What is an energy pyramid?

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An energy pyramid is a graphical representation that shows the amount of energy available at each trophic level in an ecosystem, illustrating how energy decreases as it moves up the food chain.

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What is a trophic level?

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A trophic level is a position in a food chain or food web, defined by how an organism obtains its energy, such as producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers.

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What are autotrophs?

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Autotrophs are organisms that can produce their own food from inorganic substances, typically through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis, such as plants and some bacteria.

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What are heterotrophs?

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Heterotrophs are organisms that cannot produce their own food and must consume other organisms for energy, including animals, fungi, and many bacteria.

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What is a primary producer?

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Primary producers are organisms that create organic compounds from carbon dioxide through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis, forming the base of the food chain.

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What is a primary consumer?

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Primary consumers are herbivores that eat primary producers, obtaining energy by consuming plants or algae.

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What is a secondary consumer?

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Secondary consumers are organisms that eat primary consumers, typically carnivores or omnivores that obtain energy by consuming herbivores.

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What is a tertiary consumer?

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Tertiary consumers are top predators in a food chain that eat secondary consumers, often having no natural predators.

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What is the significance of ecological pyramids?

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Ecological pyramids illustrate the distribution of energy, biomass, or numbers of organisms across different trophic levels, helping to understand ecosystem dynamics.