Flow of Energy

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What is an Ecological Pyramid?

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A graphical representation that shows the distribution of biomass, numbers, or energy among trophic levels in an ecosystem.

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What are Trophic Levels?

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Levels in an ecological pyramid that include all organisms that share the same place in a food chain.

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What is the Carbon Cycle?

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The flow of carbon from the atmosphere to plants, to animals, to the soil, and back into the atmosphere.

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What are Abiotic Factors?

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Parts of an ecosystem that are not living, such as water, soil, sunlight, temperature, and altitude.

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What are Biotic Factors?

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Parts of an ecosystem that are living or deal with the living, including producers, consumers, and decomposers.

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What is a Decomposer?

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Heterotrophs that get energy and nutrition from dead or decaying organisms or their waste products and recycle nutrients back to the ecosystem.

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What is a Producer?

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Organisms that produce their own food through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis, forming the base of the food chain.

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What is a Consumer?

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Organisms that obtain energy by consuming other organisms; they can be herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores.

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What is the role of Predation in an ecosystem?

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The interaction where one organism (the predator) hunts and eats another organism (the prey), influencing population dynamics.

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What is Symbiosis?

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A close and long-term interaction between two different species, which can be mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasitic.