1. Distinguish between the biotic community of an ecosystem and the abiotic envi
ID: 12391 • Letter: 1
Question
1. Distinguish between the biotic community of an ecosystem and the abiotic environmental factors of an ecosystem.2. Define and compare the terms species, population, and ecosystem. must be defined compared .
3. Name and describe the attributes of the two categories into which all organisms can be divided based on how they obtain nutrition.
4. Name and describe the roles of the three main trophic categories that make up the biotic structure of every ecosystem. Give three examples of organisms from each of the three categories.
5. Give four categories of consumers in an ecosystem and the role that each plays.
6. Describe the different members of the decomposition food web.
7. Differentiate among the concepts of food chain, food web, and trophic levels.
8. Relate the concept of the biomass pyramid to the fact that all heterotrophs depend on autotrophic production.
9. Food (whether plants or animals) is consumed by higher order consumers. Explain precisely what happens to all food once it is consumed by the organism. (That is, where does the food go, what does it do, where do it end up? What is the fate of food?)
Explanation / Answer
1.)The biotic community is the living portion of the ecosystem—plants, animals and microbes—while the abiotic community is the non-living portion—chemical and physical factors. The abiotic factors support and limit that biotic community. The biotic community members influence each other and will contribute to the abiotic community (minerals, etc.) during decomposition 2.)A species is all the organisms that “have a strong similarity in appearance to one another and which are distinct in appearance from other such groups.” “(T)he biological definition of a species is the entirety of a population that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. . . .” A population is the “individuals that make up the interbreeding reproducing group” within a species. “(T)he distinction between population and species is that population refers only to those individuals of a certain species that live within a given area, whereas species is all inclusive, referring to all the individuals of a certain kind, even though they may exist in different populations in widely separated areas.” An association is the “plant community with a definite composition, uniform habitat characteristics, and uniform plant growth.” “(A)n ecosystem is a grouping of plants, animals, and microbes occupying an explicit unit of space and interacting with each other and their environment.” Individuals within a species make up a population; there can be more than one population of a species. An association is the plants found within an ecosystem. There can be more than one plant association within an ecosystem 3.)All organisms can be divided into “autotrophs, or producers, which produce organic matter that becomes the source of energy and nutrients for” the second group, “heterotrophs, which are various categories of consumers, detritus feeders, and decomposers 4.)The three major trophic categories are producers, consumers, and detritus feeders and decomposers. Producers capture energy from the sun; consumers eat producers or other consumers, and detritus feeders and decomposers consume detritus. A corn plant is a producer, a cow is a consumer, and mushrooms are decomposers. 5.) The four categories are primary consumers, carnivores, omnivores, and parasites. A primary consumer eats plants. A carnivore eats herbivores and/or other carnivores. An omnivore eats plants and other animals. A parasite obtains its resources from a plant or animal, typically without killing it, and is intimately associated with its host. 6.) 7.) A food chain describes who eats whom but only shows one species at each trophic level, while a food web tries to describe more completely who eats whom at each trophic level. A food web shows the complexity of feeding relationships and shows that each organism eats more than one thing and/or is eaten by more than one type of organism. A trophic level is the feeding level, with producers occupying the first trophic level. 8.) The biomass pyramid consists of autotrophic production by plants and bacteria that do chemosynthesis in the first trophic level and consumers (heterotroph) in the second and higher trophic level. No heterotroph can survive without autotrophs because the autotrophs capture the energy and nutrients 9.)
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