Download File - Brickell Academy Life Science

Questions/Main
Ideas
Essential Question
How is energy transferred from one organism to the next?
A food chain is a diagram that represents how energy in food molecules
flow from one organism to the next.
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starts with a producer/autotroph (plant) = makes own food (energy
from sun)
primary consumer/heterotroph eats producer (zooplankton)= must
get energy from eating other organisms
secondary consumer (fish) eats primary consumer
tertiary consumer (sea lion) eats secondary consumer
quaternary consumer (shark) eats tertiary consumer
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herbivore = eats only plants
omnivore = eats plants and animals
carnivore – eats only animals
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What is a food
chain and how
does it show the
transfer of energy?
** arrows point in the direction of the one doing
the eating/the direction of the energy flow**
Prey
Predator
How does energy
change as
organisms are
eaten?
Decomposers
Quaternary
Consumers 0.01%
Tertiary Consumers
0.1%
Secondary Consumers 1%
Primary Consumers 10%
Producers 100%
How is a food web
a more accurate
representation of
an ecosystem?
How do
decomposers fit
into a food web?
Summary
A food web is made up of multiple food chains that interact together. It
shows all of the interactions in an ecosystem and the biodiversity.
Biodiversity can contribute to the sustainability of an ecosystem. More
diverse = more stable if there is a change.
Heterotrophs that get their energy from breaking down dead things.
Examples: bacteria and fungus.
As organisms are consumed, energy is transferred; however, only about 10%
of the energy is able to be used the consuming organism. There is a
balance in all ecosystems due to the transfer of energy.