Ecosystems CD
Section I Energy: Trophic Structure
There are about
billion bacteria in every pound of forest litter.
A butterfly is an example of a
consumer in the trophic pyramid.
The hawk is a
consumer if it eats an insect-catching bird.
consumers are also called herbivores.
There are
million individual plant producers and
tertiary consumers per acre of grassland.
The pyramid of
may sometimes seem inverted if producers have a higher reproductive rate than consumers.
The pyramid of
is always upright, since the number of calories always
as one goes up each level.
Section II Energy Flow
Energy enters most ecosystems in the form of
radiation, and leaves as
.
A lark is a
consumer, and is about
% efficient in turning grasshoppers into hawk food.
Most food chains contain
or fewer links.
Plants convert about
% of solar energy into food for grasshoppers and mice.
Energy
occurs when energy leaves an ecosystem, while energy
occurs when energy is introduced into an ecosystem. Thus ecosystems are almost never fully
.
Section III Materials
The Carbon cycle involves 3 pools: the
,
, and
pools.
Carbon moves from the
pool to the
pool in photosynthesis, and is transferred from the
pool back to the
pool when CO
2
is released as a product of respiration.
Tropic forests undergo
recycling of materials, while fir forests undergo
recycling.
In an ecosystem, energy movement is always
, while materials are always
.
A
ion is part of one of the enzymes which fix nitrogen.
Questions
What level consumers should cars be classified?
Which carbon pool do cars consume?
Sketch an
oxygen
cycle involving photosynthesis and respiration.