ecology biotic factors

• Producers produce their own food and supply the needed vitamins, minerals, and energy for consumers
• Photoautotrophs obtain energy for making food from radiant energy through photosynthesis
• Chemoautotrophs obtain energy for making food from the oxidation of inorganic chemicals through chemosynthesis
• Consumers include animals that feed directly or indirectly on producers for food and are part of the grazing food chain
• Herbivores (1° consumers) feed only on producers and regulate the growth of plants
• Frugivores eat fruits
• Folivores graze or browse on leaves and/or twigs
• Nectarivores feed on nectar
• Granivores eat seeds
• Palynivores feed on pollen
• Mucivores sip plant fluids
• Xylophages eat wood
• Omnivores feed on both plants and animals
• Carnivores feed directly on other animals and act as natural enemies to maintain balance in the ecosystem
• 2° consumers feed only on herbivores
• 3° and higher level consumers feed only on other carnivores
• Decomposers, Detritivores, Scavengers thrive on decomposing matter or cast-off fragments of living organisms
• They participate in the detrital food chain and recycle matter into nutrients for re-entry into the grazing food chain
• Nutrient cycling by decomposers is crucial for life to continue
• Feeding relationships involve the transfer of food from autotrophs to consumers through trophic levels
• Trophic levels are represented through food chains, food webs, or food pyramids
• Food chains show a single chain of feeding
• Food webs depict a network of feeding relationships
• Food pyramids illustrate feeding relationships by showing biomass or energy at each level
• each level in the successive food/energy transfer is called a trophic level; represented through food chain (single chain of feeding), food web (network of feeding relationships), or food pyramid (feeding relationships showing either biomass or energy contained at each level)
• Decomposers, Detritivores, Scavengers – special type of consumers that thrive on decomposing matter or cast-off fragments of living organisms; participate in the detrital food chain; recycle matter into nutrients that are available for re-entry into the grazing food chain (this is a very important function; if nutrient cycling does not happen then all of life would cease)
• Biotic Components – Can be classified according to their functional role in the ecosystem (reflecting

  feeding relationships)