a.) Choosing organisms from four different trophic levels of this four web as examples, explain how energy is obtained at each trophic level.
Since energy is a necessary part of how an organism survives, how it obtains it’s energy is crucial. When you look at an ecosystem, and all the organisms living within that ecosystem, you can link many of the species together by their dependence on each other. Scientists will look at these links to see how they depend on each other, or in other words, where their main source of energy and nutrition is. Once that step is determined, scientists will assign that group of species to a trophic level; to either the primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, or the tertiary consumers.
The bottom of the chain and the trophic level that depends upon by all others is the primary producers. These primary producers consist of autotrophs, which are capable of deriving their food and energy source without consuming organisms or substances taken from other organisms. In the Arctic lake of Alaska, one of it’s primary producers consists of aquatic plants and algae. These aquatic and algae contain chlorophyll, which means that they can use light energy from the sun to synthesize glucose and other organic compounds, that they can use for cellular respiration and building material for growth. In other words, called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis requires light energy, but some autotrophs use chemosynthesis, which means they can convert nutrients to organic compounds without light in the presence.
While the trophic level of primary producers is of autotrophs, the next remaining levels all represent heterotrophs. Heterotrophs can only obtain their energy by consuming of other organisms. In the tropic level of the primary consumers, these herbivores depend on these primary producers and other plants for their food. An example of a primary consumer is the larvae of chironomids, or a type of aquatic insect.
The next trophic level is made up of secondary consumers. These secondary consumers are also heterotrophs, and these organisms are carnivores that obtain their energy from consuming other herbivores. An organism that belongs to this category is the sculpin, a small fish, that uses organisms
such as the larvae of the chironomids to obtain their energy necessary for survival.
The fourth and last trophic level that remains is the tertiary consumers.
...d molecules without eating other organisms or substances that come from other organisms. And heterotrophs are organisms that get organic food molecules by eating other organisms or substances that come from other organisms.
The sessile consumers are those that are stationary and all feed off small plankton creating competition for their food source which allows some sessile consumers to be more dominant than others. Mussels are the most dominant between the sessile consumer with the Starfish as its predator, followed by Goose Neck Barnacles whose predators are Whelk and Starfish, and Acorn Barnacles whose predators is Whelk. The mobile consumers consist of Whelk(Nucella), Chiton(Katharina), and Starfish(pisaster). The mobile consumers, which are the the species that have a possibility to be the Keystone species are predators and compete for food. The Starfish preys on Mussels and Goose Neck Particles, the Whelk generally prey on Acorn Barnacles and Goose Neck Barnacles, and the Chiton prey on Nori Seaweed, Black Pine, and occasionally Coral Weed. Between the Mobile Consumers the only competition for food is between the Whelk and Starfish who both prey on Goose Neck Barnacles. Lastly, there is the invasive species known as the Green Crab (Carcinus) which has invaded the environment. The Green crab invades the area and is a predator to all
A food chain begins with the producers. Since plants get their energy from sunlight, they are producers; one of the common producers in the Sonoran Desert is the prickly pear cactus. Many different animals eat the fruit of the prickly pear cactus, including Harris's antelope squirrel. The squirrel is a consumer because it gets its energy from other organisms. In this case, the squirrel gets its energy from the fruit of the prickly pear cactus. The food chain starts with a producer, the prickly pear cactus, which obtains its energy from sunlight. The prickly pear is eaten by Harris's antelope squirrel, which, because it is the first consumer in the food chain, is called the primary consumer. The squirrel is eaten by the diamondback rattlesnake,
The Effect of Light on the Organic Plant Elodea Aim: To calculate the rate of photosynthesis from the number of oxygen bubbles produced by the plant. Photosynthesis: The process by which green plants use the sun's energy to build up carbohydrate reserves. Plants make their own organic food such as starch. Plants need Carbon dioxide, water, light and chlorophyll in order to make food; and starch and oxygen are produced. Carbon dioxide and water are the raw materials of photosynthesis.
For a species to survive and flourish within a given environment, it not only needs to replace itself but also all the other species around it exclusively. Hence, if one species completely replaces another species, the result is a single dominant species, a monoculture (source 2). According to Gause’s law, every species in a given environment occupies different niches for survival. Therefore, two separate species competing for similar resources cannot fundamentally coexist (source Gause). This is known as the competitive exclusion principle. When comparing animal niche’s to that of different autotrophic plants, one can rather easily differentiate adequate ecological niches for the animal species merely based on food-requirements (P.J. Grubb). On the contrary, many autotrophic plants contradict the competitive exclusion principle by sharing similar ecological niches such as sunlight, carbon dioxide, water, and alike mineral nutrients (p.j. grubb).
All living things fall into two main categories based on how they obtain chemical energy. There are autotrophs and heterotrophs. Autotrophs are “an organism that uses energy from an external source, such as sunlight, to produce its own food without having to eat other organisms or their remains (page g14).” Within the food web, autotrophs are identified as producers because they convert the energy from sun into the energy they need through photosynthesis and are plants, algae and even some bacteria. In contrast, heterotrophs are “an organism that obtains its energy by eating other organisms or their remains (page g4).” Consumers include herbivores, carnivores, and decomposers. While autotroph are recognized by many in the
who they compete with for food and space. Main preys of this species are small fish and
Ý Herbivores commonly behave as energy maximizers (Belovsky 1986) and accomplish this maximizing behavior by choosing food that is of high quality and has low-search and low-handling time (Pyke et al. 1977).Ý The central place th... ... middle of paper ... ... tement of possible sources of error.
Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to investigate the various components of different ecosystems in a smaller representation and study the conditions required for the ecosystem’s sustainability as well as the connections between
In the marine ecosystem the energy from the sunlight powers photosynthesis and photosynthetic creatures like algae, seaweeds, green plants, and multiple sorts of bacteria. These photosynthetic organisms are the start of our food chain. These organisms are primary producers, which allow the ecosystem to grow. One negativity to primary production would be climate change. Climate change influences the physical and chemical marine environment, which affects the food web, and it hurts the production of primary
For example the canopies of kelp provide shelter for many organisms . Because the kelp is able to float, it creates a canopy. This canopy has warm temperatures and slow water currents, providing a home to defenseless young. This is important because the kelp is able to protect many organisms from predators and rough storms (6). Kelp is also the base of the food chain. Since kelp is the base of the food chain many organisms eat kelp and other animals eat them.This is important because without the kelp all the primary consumers would starve having no other food source (5). Finally each part of kelp is home to a different species. Because each part of kelp is home to a different species, many species breed in them. This is important because if the kelp where gone there would be no place for the organisms to breed downsizing their population (4). Overall kelp is providing food and shelter to many
This helps consumers called heterotrophs and autotrophs use organic molecules produced by photosynthesis as a building block for growth and repair and as a source of chemical energy for cellular work. (Mader, 2013) Photosynthesis produces an enormous amount of carbohydrate that humans use to convert it into coal.
In 1891, a German zoologist named Karl Semper introduced the concept of a food chain, a process that is requisite for all living creatures. The chain consists of different levels. On the bottom are plants, then herbivores, the animals that eat plants. Next are carnivores, animals that eat other animal species, and the last are the animals that eat carnivores. The chain tends to overlap due to animals that eat more than one kind of food. Some people choose to be carnivores, while others choose to be herbivores due to the feeling that it is wrong to eat another living being. Humans are usually thought of as the superior animals on the Earth and living in modern society many nutritious foods are provided, especially meat. Some people choose to live herbivorous lifestyles due to moral and ethic reasoning, which can easily result in malnutrition as well as health risks that could have easily been avoided had they eaten carnivorously.
This pictures demonstration the level of food chain in the ecosystem. The bottom level is the producer and the higher level will be the predator.