AP®︎ Environmental Science: Topic 1.11 Flashcards

A simplified linear model showing one pathway of energy and matter transfer from a producer through successive consumers

A model of two or more interlocking food chains showing multiple pathways of energy and matter transfer in a community

An arrow ordinarily points from the organism being consumed to its consumer, the direction in which energy and matter are transferred

An organism’s feeding position in a food chain or food web, determined by how it obtains energy and matter

An organism that makes organic compounds from inorganic materials and occupies the first trophic level

A consumer that eats producers and occupies the second trophic level along that pathway

A consumer that eats primary consumers and occupies the third trophic level along that pathway

A consumer that eats secondary consumers and occupies the fourth trophic level along that pathway

An organism that consumes producers

An organism that consumes animals and may occupy different consumer levels depending on its prey

An organism that consumes both producers and animals and can occupy more than one trophic level

Nonliving organic matter such as dead organisms, shed material, leaf litter, and feces

An organism that ingests detritus and physically breaks it into smaller pieces, increasing the surface area available for decomposition

An animal that consumes relatively large pieces of dead animals without completing their chemical decomposition

An organism, especially a bacterium or fungus, that chemically breaks down organic matter and releases nutrients in inorganic forms

A direct effect occurs between connected food and consumer populations; an indirect effect reaches another population through one or more intermediate species

A series of indirect effects transmitted across multiple trophic levels after a population changes, often beginning with a top predator

A loop in which a system’s response counteracts the initial change and tends to promote relative stability

A loop in which a system’s response reinforces the initial change, pushing the system farther in the same direction