Food Webs, Energy Pyramids & Ecological Relationships

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What is photosynthesis?

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Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants, algae, and some bacteria convert light energy into chemical energy in the form of glucose, using carbon dioxide and water.

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What is cellular respiration?

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Cellular respiration is the process by which cells convert glucose and oxygen into energy (ATP), carbon dioxide, and water.

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What are autotrophs?

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Autotrophs are organisms that produce their own food through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis, such as plants and some bacteria.

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What are heterotrophs?

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Heterotrophs are organisms that cannot produce their own food and must consume other organisms for energy, such as animals and fungi.

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What is a food web?

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A food web is a complex network of interconnected food chains in an ecosystem, showing how energy and nutrients flow between different organisms.

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What is a food chain?

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A food chain is a linear sequence of organisms through which energy and nutrients pass as one organism eats another.

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What role do decomposers play in an ecosystem?

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Decomposers break down dead organic material and recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem, helping to maintain soil health.

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What is mutualism?

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Mutualism is a type of ecological relationship where both species benefit from the interaction, such as bees pollinating flowers.

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What is commensalism?

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Commensalism is a type of ecological relationship where one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed, such as barnacles on a whale.

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What is parasitism?

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Parasitism is a type of ecological relationship where one species benefits at the expense of another, such as ticks feeding on a host.