Chapter 5 8
Chapter 5
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. How did the described volcanoes in Iceland and the Philippines change the environment to lesser or greater extents?
2. Name and describe the attributes of the two categories into which all organisms can be divided based on how they obtain nutrition.
All organisms can be divided into autothrops, which produce their own food, and heterothrops, which need to get their food from somewhere else.
3. Name and describe the roles of the three main trophic categories that make up the biotic structure of every ecosystem. Give examples of organisms from each category.
The main trophic categories are producers (plants), consumers (animals), and decomposers (fungi).
4. Give four categories of consumers in an ecosystem and the role that each plays.
Primary consumers (herbivores) feed directly on producers. Secondary consumers (carnivores) feed on primary consumers. Consumers that feed on both plants and animals are called omnivores.
5. Describe different members of the decomposition food web.
Detritus is composed largely of cellulose because it consists mostly of dead leaves, the woody parts of plants, and animal fecal wastes.
Scavengers, such as vultures, help break down large pieces of organic matter.
Detritus feeders, such as earth worms, eat partially decomposing organic matter.
Chemical decomposers (fungi) break down dead material on the molecular scale.
6. Differentiate among the concepts of food chain, food web, and trophic levels.
A food chain is the transfer of energy and material through a series of organisms as each one is fed up on by the next.
A food web is the combination of all the feeding relationships that exist in an ecosystem.
A trophic level is a feeding level defines with respect to the primary source of energy.
7. Relate the concept of the biomass pyramid to the fact that all heterotrophs depend on autotrophic production.
The biomass pyramid describes how the biomass of each trophic level decreases as it goes from the
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. How did the described volcanoes in Iceland and the Philippines change the environment to lesser or greater extents?
2. Name and describe the attributes of the two categories into which all organisms can be divided based on how they obtain nutrition.
All organisms can be divided into autothrops, which produce their own food, and heterothrops, which need to get their food from somewhere else.
3. Name and describe the roles of the three main trophic categories that make up the biotic structure of every ecosystem. Give examples of organisms from each category.
The main trophic categories are producers (plants), consumers (animals), and decomposers (fungi).
4. Give four categories of consumers in an ecosystem and the role that each plays.
Primary consumers (herbivores) feed directly on producers. Secondary consumers (carnivores) feed on primary consumers. Consumers that feed on both plants and animals are called omnivores.
5. Describe different members of the decomposition food web.
Detritus is composed largely of cellulose because it consists mostly of dead leaves, the woody parts of plants, and animal fecal wastes.
Scavengers, such as vultures, help break down large pieces of organic matter.
Detritus feeders, such as earth worms, eat partially decomposing organic matter.
Chemical decomposers (fungi) break down dead material on the molecular scale.
6. Differentiate among the concepts of food chain, food web, and trophic levels.
A food chain is the transfer of energy and material through a series of organisms as each one is fed up on by the next.
A food web is the combination of all the feeding relationships that exist in an ecosystem.
A trophic level is a feeding level defines with respect to the primary source of energy.
7. Relate the concept of the biomass pyramid to the fact that all heterotrophs depend on autotrophic production.
The biomass pyramid describes how the biomass of each trophic level decreases as it goes from the