review food webs, chains and pyramids

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What is a food web?

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A food web is a complex network of feeding relationships among various organisms in an ecosystem, showing how energy and nutrients flow through different trophic levels.

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What is a food chain?

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A food chain is a linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another, typically consisting of producers, consumers, and decomposers.

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What is a producer?

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A producer is an organism that makes its own food through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis, serving as the base of the food chain.

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What is a consumer?

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A consumer is an organism that cannot produce its own food and instead obtains energy by eating other organisms.

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What is a primary consumer?

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A primary consumer is an herbivore that feeds on producers (plants) in a food chain.

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What is a secondary consumer?

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A secondary consumer is a carnivore that eats primary consumers in a food chain.

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What is a tertiary consumer?

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A tertiary consumer is a predator that eats secondary consumers in a food chain.

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What role do decomposers play in an ecosystem?

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Decomposers break down dead organic matter, recycling nutrients back into the soil and making them available for producers.

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What is an energy pyramid?

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An energy pyramid is a graphical representation showing the flow of energy at different trophic levels in an ecosystem, illustrating that energy decreases as it moves up the pyramid.

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What happens to energy as it moves up the food chain?

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As energy moves up the food chain, it decreases due to energy loss through metabolic processes, heat, and waste.