Trophic Levels

This hierarchy is most often displayed as a pyramid. The lowest levels of the pyramid are

Each step in a food chain is a “trophic level” because of the energy transfer between them which can be shown in energy pyramids. All of the energy that passes on originally comes from the sun before moving through the order of the trophic levels, which is from producers to primary consumers to secondary consumers, then eventually to tertiary consumers. Although, as one lifeform eats another for energy, only 10% transfers to the next level because that 90% is used to “carry out the functions of living, such as producing new cells, regulating body temperature, and moving,” or for other necessary tasks. These transfers through eating are important since they help maintain ecosystems like the Everglades Hardwood Hammock. (Arms,

Explain why the biomass of the primary consumers is less than the biomass of the producers in most communities. .......................................................................................................................................................

This in turn would lead to more consumption at the top of the food chain, eliminating the predators to creatures at the lower end

Seahorses are secondary consumers. Secondary consumers are mainly carnivores, they eat other animals. Omnivores, who eat plants and animals are also called secondary consumers.

Ecosystem management takes an integrated view of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, integrates ecological concepts at a variety of spatial scales, incorporates the perspectives of landscape ecology so that the range of possible landscapes in an ecosystem is recognized and preserved, and is an evolving paradigm incorporating the objective of ecological sustainability.

Herbivores make up the second trophic level. Predators that eat herbivores comprise the third trophic level; if larger predators are present they are then represent a higher trophic level. Organisms that feed at several trophic levels are classified at the highest of trophic levels at which they feed. Decomposers breakdown wastes and dead organisms and return nutrients back to the soil. (Future Direction International,

-Reintroduction of a top predator lowered the number of over grazing herbivores, leaving a more stable amount of food for many species of herbivores.

The artic fox lives on the tundra. They are consumers. A consumer is an animal that eats other plants and animals. The artic fox and penguin eat meat. They are carnivores. Carnivores are meat eaters. Mush ox and caribou eat plants. Plant eaters are herbivores. They can eat up to 100 to 200

number of animals in an area surpasses the available food supply? More often than not, the

The Tundra has a bunch of animals including, arctic foxes (secondary consumer) , polar bears (secondary consumer), gray wolves (secondary consumer), caribou, snow geese (primary consumer), musk-oxen (primary consumer) , reindeer (primary consumer) , arctic heir (primary consumer), Cygni (secondary consumer) , and walrus (secondary consumer). There are many plants in the Tundra also, Bearberry (producer) , Labrador Tea (producer) , Diamond leaf (producer) , Arctic moss (producer) , Artic willow (producer) , Caribou Moss (producer) , Tufted Saxifrage (producer) ,an Pasque Flower (producer).a symbiotic relationship is, Lichen appears moss-like, but it actually represents a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and an algae. The fungus is "fed" sugars by the photosynthetic alga and the alga receives protection from the fungus. The food pyramid consist of four levels the first level being the plants and producers, (1,500,000 ki) second will be primary consumers (150,000 ki) secondary consumers (15,000 ki) and then the top consumers (1,500

Leopold’s land pyramid describes the hierarchical dynamics of the biotic community. Based upon what we learned in class, a biotic community is the relationship between soil and animals. It is a sum of all the parts within the community. The pyramid represents layers within the biotic community. The bottom layer is the soil. A plant layer rests upon the soil layer, an insect layer lies atop the plants, a bird and rodent layer rests upon the insects. The pyramid works its way up the various animal groups until it finally comes to the peak layer, which consists of the lager carnivorous animals. Leopold places humans in the top layer.

The purpose of this experiment is to understand the effects of nutrient enrichment and eutrophication, using samples of water from Rio Salado and Encanto Park. The samples will contain different concentration levels of nitrogen, phosphorous and nitrogen and phosphorous combined and the impact it has on algae growth. The results recorded showed that the nitrogen concentration levels had a little change, phosphorous levels had a higher change and phosphorous and nitrogen combined had a significantly higher change, resulting in higher algae growth. The results showed that phosphorous indeed is a limiting nutrient in algae growth, but to achieve the highest growth rate, both nitrogen and phosphorous need to be combined.

Ecology is the tool used to better understand the causes, effects, and potential mitigation of environmental problems.

Deep ecology is more meditative and goes beyond the factual scientific level, to the level of self and Earth wisdom. It goes beyond a shallow approach to environmental problems. It articulates a comprehensive religious and philosophical worldview, along with ecological consciousness.