Biotic Factors
- Producers
➔ Also called autotrophs, the usual way producers make energy is through photosynthesis
- Primary Consumers
➔ Primary consumers is an organism that feeds on primary producers (Herbivore)
- Secondary Consumers
➔ Are organisms that eat primary consumers for energy. Secondary consumers can either be
carnivores or omnivores
- Tertiary Consumers
➔ An animal that obtains nutrition by eating primary consumers and secondary consumers.
Usually they are carnivores, although they can be omnivores.
- Detritivore
➔ They are organisms that eat dead or decaying plants or animals as food. Detritivore include
microorganisms such as bacteria and larger organisms such as fungi, insects, worms, and some
crustaceans.
- an ecological pyramid is a pyramid-shaped diagram representing quantitatively the number of
organisms, energy relationships and biomass of an ecosystem
- three types of pyramids
1. Pyramid of Numbers
➔ Used to show the number of organisms at each stage of a food chain
2. Pyramid of Biomass
➔ The mass of living things at each stage
of the food chain
➔ Measured in dry mass
➔ The six of each box represent the mass
of each kind of organism
➔ Always makes a pyramid shape
3. Pyramid of Energy
➔
- 90% of energy is lost between trophic levels
➔ growth and reproduction
➔ not digested or assimilated
➔ excreted
➔ lost as heat from respiration
- Producers
➔ Also called autotrophs, the usual way producers make energy is through photosynthesis
- Primary Consumers
➔ Primary consumers is an organism that feeds on primary producers (Herbivore)
- Secondary Consumers
➔ Are organisms that eat primary consumers for energy. Secondary consumers can either be
carnivores or omnivores
- Tertiary Consumers
➔ An animal that obtains nutrition by eating primary consumers and secondary consumers.
Usually they are carnivores, although they can be omnivores.
- Detritivore
➔ They are organisms that eat dead or decaying plants or animals as food. Detritivore include
microorganisms such as bacteria and larger organisms such as fungi, insects, worms, and some
crustaceans.
- an ecological pyramid is a pyramid-shaped diagram representing quantitatively the number of
organisms, energy relationships and biomass of an ecosystem
- three types of pyramids
1. Pyramid of Numbers
➔ Used to show the number of organisms at each stage of a food chain
2. Pyramid of Biomass
➔ The mass of living things at each stage
of the food chain
➔ Measured in dry mass
➔ The six of each box represent the mass
of each kind of organism
➔ Always makes a pyramid shape
3. Pyramid of Energy
➔
- 90% of energy is lost between trophic levels
➔ growth and reproduction
➔ not digested or assimilated
➔ excreted
➔ lost as heat from respiration
