Summary: Life On Earth

Read the summary and the most important questions on Life on Earth

• 1 Week 3

• 1.1.1 Chapter 46.3 - Food Webs and Trophic Pyramids

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• What defines a food web?

  A network showing how energy and matter flow through an ecosystem.
  

  • Key Points:
  • - Interconnected food chains
  • - Energy flow
  • - Matter flow

• What represents the distribution of biomass in an ecosystem?

  A trophic pyramid visually shows energy, biomass, or organism distribution.
  

  • Key Points:
  • - Graphical representation
  • - Biomass distribution
  • - Trophic levels

• Who are primary producers?

  Organisms that convert solar or chemical energy into organic matter.
  

  • Key Points:
  • - Autotrophs
  • - Examples: plants, algae
  • - Photosynthetic bacteria

• What do primary consumers eat?

  Primary consumers consume primary producers for energy.
  

  • Key Points:
  • - Herbivores
  • - First consumers
  • - Energy source

• Describe the energy flow in ecosystems.

  Energy flows unidirectionally from producers to consumers, then decomposers.
  

  • Key Points:
  • - Unidirectional flow
  • - Producers → consumers
  • - Decomposers

• What is the 10% rule in energy transfer?

  About 10% of energy transfers to the next trophic level; others are lost.
  

  • Key Points:
  • - Energy loss
  • - Metabolism use
  • - Biomass implications

• Differentiate between food chains and food webs.

  Food chains are linear; food webs are interconnected chains.
  

  • Key Points:
  • - Linear sequence
  • - Feeding relationships
  • - Realistic ecosystems

• What characterizes a keystone species?

  A species with a large impact on community structure relative to abundance.
  

  • Key Points:
  • - Critical to ecosystem
  • - Removal effects
  • - Community stability

• What influences ecological efficiency?

  Influenced by assimilation and production efficiency of energy transfer.
  

  • Key Points:
  • - Energy ratio
  • - Passed between levels
  • - Absorption and conversion

• 1.1.1.1 Chapter 46.4 - Other Biogeochemical Cycles

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• What are biogeochemical cycles?

  Pathways that move chemical elements between living organisms and Earth's systems.