Energy Flow Through Living Systems

As you move up the levels of an energy pyramid, how does the energy available to each level compare?

• There is much more energy available at higher levels.

• There is the same amount of energy available for each level.

• There is a little less energy available at lower levels.

• There is much less energy available at higher levels.

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What might most likely happen if an ecosystem lost all its decomposers?

• Consumers would not be able to obtain food and their populations would quickly decrease.

• Nutrients would remain in waste products and remains of dead organisms, and would not be recycled.

• The food web would gain nutrients because there would be no organisms breaking them down or consuming them.

• Producers would multiply until they reached the carrying capacity of the habitat.

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Think of all the components that contribute to the flow of energy and matter in a food web. Which of the following groups forms the base of the food web?

• consumers

• decomposers

• producers

• scavengers

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Why are there so few third-level consumers and how does this fit with the energy pyramid?

• because there is less energy available at the bottom of the pyramid

• because of the energy and heat loss at each level of the pyramid

• because they use the most energy competing for food in the pyramid

• because they have the fewest sources of food for energy in the pyramid

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This food chain shows some of the plants and animals that could be observed in a meadow ecosystem. What is the source of energy for the snake?

• the toad

• the owl

• the beetle

• green plants

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All organisms take energy from their environment. Every organism needs this energy in order to grow and reproduce. How do producers get energy?

• They obtain energy by eating plants, bacteria, and algae.

• They extract chemical energy from decaying organic matter.

• They extract energy from the chemicals in soil, air, and water.

• They capture energy from sunlight and manufacture their own food.

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Each organism has its own role in an ecosystem. Organisms can be producers, consumers, or decomposers. Which of these organisms can be classified as a decomposer?

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What is the primary source of energy used by producers during photosynthesis?

• thermal energy from the sun

• light energy from the sun

• chemical energy from food and oxygen

• chemical energy from carbon dioxide and water

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What information is included in a food web?

• definitions of producer, consumer, and decomposer

• the amount of food energy available in an ecosystem

• the feeding relationships among organisms in an ecosystem

• the number of different types of organisms in an ecosystem

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Some consumers, such as many flying insects, need large amounts of energy to grow and move from one place to another. How do consumers get energy to function?

• Consumers obtain all of their energy by eating other organisms.

• Consumers obtain some energy from other organisms and some from sunlight.

• Consumers obtain most of their energy by absorbing it from their environments.

• Consumers light energy from the sun and convert it into chemical energy stored in food.

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