Lesson 6: Food Webs and Trophic Pyramids

What is a food web?

• A type of consumer that recycles nutrients

• A graphical representation of water flow

• A model of the feeding relationships between populations in an ecosystem

• A single pathway of feeding relationships

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What role do decomposers play in an ecosystem?

• They produce their own food through photosynthesis

• They consume living plants and animals

• They get their energy by consuming wastes or remains of other organisms

• They are the primary consumers in a food chain

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How does biomass move in a food web?

• It remains constant throughout the food web

• Only a fraction is available to each level of consumer

• It increases as it moves up the food chain

• It is only found at the base of the food web

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What do trophic pyramids show?

• The number of organisms at each level of a food web

• The size of each organism in a food chain

• How the energy available decreases through different levels

• The types of food each organism eats

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How can scientists use trophic pyramids to restore an ecosystem?

• By introducing new species at the top of the pyramid

• By increasing the biomass at each level of the food chain

• By removing all decomposers from the ecosystem

• By modifying solutions after testing based on trophic relationships

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What is the main difference between a food chain and a food web?

• A food web consists of only one pathway of feeding relationships

• A food chain is a model of feeding relationships between populations

• A food web is made up of many food chains

• A food chain includes decomposers, while a food web does not

Why is only a fraction of biomass available to each level of consumer in a food chain?

• Because most of it is used for the organism's life processes

• Because decomposers consume the majority of the biomass

• Because biomass is not an important factor in food chains

• Because consumers are not efficient in absorbing biomass

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What happens to energy as it is transferred through different levels of a food web?

• It remains constant throughout the food web

• It decreases as it is transferred through different levels

• It is completely recycled by decomposers

• It increases with each level

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Why are decomposers considered a special kind of consumer?

• Because they only consume primary producers

• Because they consume the wastes or remains of other organisms

• Because they are the largest organisms in an ecosystem

• Because they can produce their own food

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What is biomass?

• The total mass of living matter within a given unit of environmental area

• A type of decomposer

• The energy produced by primary consumers

• The amount of water in an ecosystem

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