Download Relationships in Food Webs

Relationships in Food Webs
Picture Vocabulary
Energy
Pyramid
• A diagram
that shows
the trophic
levels of
organisms in
a food web.
Tertiary
consumer
Secondary
consumer
Primary
consumer
Producer
Seagull
Fish
Shrimp/Krill
Water fleas
Phytoplankton
Autotroph /
A producer
makes its
own food,
and is the
basis for the
food chain &
food web.
Examples:
All plants,
algae, and
some types
of bacteria
Phytoplankton
• Microscopic ocean
PRODUCERS.
• At the base of ocean
food webs.
• Use sunlight to make
food, and also
produce huge
amounts of oxygen,
which goes into the
troposphere.
The SUN
provides the
energy for all
the food chains
on Earth.
• Producers use the sun’s
energy to make their
own food in the process
of photosynthesis.
• Producers are at the
beginning of every food
chain & food web.
/ Primary
Consumer
Heterotroph /
Zooplankton
• Tiny animals which eat
phytoplankton (and
other zooplankton), and
are in turn, eaten by
small fish, and then
larger fish.
Paraeuchaeta norvegica, a carnivorous
copepod commonly found in fjords and
North Atlantic waters
Predator
Predator
An organism that hunts and eats other
organisms for its food.
Prey
Prey
An organism that is hunted and eaten
by other organisms for food
Parasite
• Organism that lives
in or on a host
organism, doing it
harm (but usually
not killing it).
• A tapeworm lives
in the intestines of
its host organism.
Host
• An organism that is
used by another
organism (parasite) for
nutrients, shelter, or
transport.
• The host organism is
harmed by this
relationship.
Example: tick (parasite)
on dog (host)
Biosphere
• “Bio” = “life”
• “Sphere” = balllike structure
• The biosphere is
the part of Earth
that supports
life
Ecosystem
All of the living and nonliving things that
interact in an area.
Abiotic Factors
Sunlight
Air
Living
Space
Land
Water
Soil /sand
A nonliving part of an ecosystem
Biotic Factors
A living part of an ecosystem.
Biodiversity (Diversity)
• The number of different species of plants and
animals in an area.
Habitat
• Place an organism lives.
Where it finds shelter and
food, and spends its life.
A habitat can be a hole in a cactus or the underside of a fern
leaf in rainforest. Or a habitat can be a large area of savanna.
Niche
An organism’s particular role in an ecosystem,
or how it “makes its living”.
Competition
Occurs when many organisms within an ecosystem
want to use the same resources and there aren’t
enough to go around
Population
• Part of Earth that
supports life.
• All biotic and
abiotic factors in a
community.
• All the
populations in a
specific area.
• All organisms of
the same species
in an area.
• One organism of a
species.
Community
• All populations living in the same area.
Mutualism
• Symbiotic relationship in which both
organisms involved benefit.
• In this example, the
cleaner shrimp gets a
meal by eating the
parasites off of the
queen angelfish, and
the angelfish gets rid
of parasites.
Lichen
• Organism made of a photosynthetic alga (or
cyanobacteria) and a fungus that live in a
close association with each other.
Invasive Species
• An invasive species, also known as an exotic
or nuisance species, is an organism or plant
that is introduced into a new environment,
where it is not native
Pacific Lionfish
In less than a decade, the IndoPacific lionfish has become widely
established along the Southeast U.S.
and Caribbean. Lionfish are
presently invading the Gulf of
Mexico and South America.
Lionfish occupy the same trophic
position as economically important
species (e.g., snapper and grouper)
and may hamper stock rebuilding
efforts and coral reef conservation
measures.
Invasive Species - more examples
• Feral Pigs (Hogs) -- Feral pigs
cause disturbance of vegetation
and soil as a result of their rooting
habits. The disturbed area may
cause a shift in plant succession on
the immediate site. Feral pigs also
compete, to some degree, with
several species of wildlife for
certain foods. They reproduce
quickly and have no natural
predators.
• Zebra Mussels -- have caused
alarming declines in populations
of fish, birds and native mussel
species, and can disrupt a city's
entire water supply system by
clogging the insides of pipelines.
Zebra mussels also damage boat
hulls, plug water systems used in
boat motors, air conditioners and
heads and cause navigation buoys
to sink.
Ecological Succession
Annual
Plants
Perennial
Plants and
Grasses
Shrubs
Softwood
Trees - Pines
Hardwood
Trees
Time
• Natural process by which one community of organisms slowly
replaces another in a certain area
Pioneer Species
Lichens growing on a rock
Moss
• First organisms to live in an area.
• Usually very small organisms, such as mosses and lichens.
Limiting Factor
Environmental
factor that limits
population sizes
in a particular
ecosystem
Examples:
water,
sunlight,
food,
living space
Climax Community
• Mature large organisms (trees) that are
established when the community reaches a
stable point where very few plants can colonize.