Notesale: Turn your study into money

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Ecosystem Basics
•What is an ecosystem?
–All of the living and nonliving components in a specific area that interact with
one another
–Each organism in an ecosystem is assigned a feeding level (trophic level)
–One of the most important species interactions in an ecosystem is figuring out
who eats who!
• Terrestrial-- prefix “terra” means earth
• Aquatic-- prefix “aqua” means water
Producers (Autotrophs)
• Always the first link in a food chain
• Most perform photosynthesis-- converting energy from the sun to chemical
energy (glucose)
• “Photoautotrophs”
• Ex
...
vulture, crow, blue crab, hyenas
• Decomposers-- incredibly important for breaking down and cycling nutrients
• ex
...

• Only 10% of energy that enters a trophic level is passed on to the next level
• 90% of energy is lost
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Why does only 10% of energy get passed to the next level?
Not all of the material at each trophic level is consumed (ex
...
bones, hair, cellulose)
Most digested food is broken down to fuel cell respiration, not to be stored
• Maintaining bodily functions vs
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• The average American consumer will eat 222 pounds of red
meat and poultry this year, according to the U
...
Department of
Agriculture

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Food Webs
In reality– most organisms eat a variety of foods
– Season
– Availability
– Habitat
Organisms that eat many different types of foods are called generalists
– Ex

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