Cycles and Feeding Relationships

Cards (28)

  • What happens to materials in the living world?
    They are recycled for future organisms.
  • What components do materials cycle through in ecosystems?
    Biotic and abiotic components
  • What does the carbon cycle describe?
    How carbon is recycled in nature
  • What role do decomposers play in the carbon cycle?
    They return carbon to the atmosphere as CO2
  • What is the main process that removes carbon dioxide from the air?
    Photosynthesis
  • What could happen if photosynthesis is reduced?
    Carbon dioxide levels could increase
  • How does increased carbon dioxide affect the environment?
    It leads to global warming
  • What does the water cycle describe?
    How fresh water circulates in ecosystems
  • What happens to water in the water cycle?
    It evaporates and precipitates back to the surface
  • What process is responsible for returning water to the air?
    Transpiration from plants
  • What effect does cutting down forests have on the water cycle?
    It can disturb the water cycle
  • Key Point
    The carbon cycle is essential to life on earth. It returns carbon to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide to be used by plants in photosynthesis.
  • Key Point
    The water cycle provides fresh water for plants and animals on land before draining into the seas. Water is continuously evaporated and precipitated.
  • What do food chains represent in a community?
    Feeding relationships
  • What is the starting point of all food chains?
    A producer
  • What do producers synthesize in a food chain?
    Molecules
  • What type of organism is usually a producer?
    A green plant
  • How do producers make glucose molecules?
    Through photosynthesis
  • Who eats producers in a food chain?
    Primary consumers
  • What is the order of consumers in a food chain?
    Primary, secondary, tertiary
  • What are consumers that eat other animals called?
    Predators
  • What are the organisms that are eaten by predators called?
    Prey
  • What are apex predators?
    Top consumers with no predators
  • How does energy availability change in a food chain?
    It decreases as the chain length increases
  • Why are there fewer apex predators than primary consumers?
    Energy decreases along the food chain
  • What happens to the number of predators and prey in a stable community?
    They rise and fall in cycles
  • How can the relationship between predators and prey be visually represented?
    In a predator-prey graph
  • Key Point
    In the predator-prey graph, both lines follow the same pattern but the changes in predator numbers happen just after the changes in prey.