A Pyramid of Numbers refers to the number of individual organisms at each trophic level in an ecosystem.
Energy flow refers to the unidirectional movement of energy through an ecosystem, encompassing the absorption and conversion of solar energy by producers, its use by consumers, and the overall efficiency of energy input and loss.
The 'Y' Shaped Energy Flow Model represents two food chains: one for herbivores and another for decomposers, indicating that these chains are not completely isolated from one another.
Decomposers break down dead organic matter, recycling nutrients back into the ecosystem, which is essential for maintaining the health and balance of the ecosystem.
A second order consumer is an animal that eats primary consumers.
Producers are plants that use light energy from the Sun to produce food (sugar) from carbon dioxide and water.
A decrease in the zebra population due to starvation leads to less food available for lions, which can result in some lions starving to death.
Domestication involves gaining control over the reproduction of particular plant and animal species to enable selective breeding of more productive types.
A swidden is a cleared area during the cropping phase in shifting agriculture, often created by felling and burning forest vegetation.
Low and unpredictable rainfall in nomadic pastoralism leads to low primary production, affecting the availability of energy for human consumption.
Soil tillage and undue exposure of bare soil, resulting in accelerated soil erosion and consequent depletion of the soil resource base.
A Pyramid of Biomass refers to the total dry weight of living matter at each trophic level in an ecosystem.
Energy flow in an ecosystem refers to the transfer of energy from producers to consumers and decomposers, with significant energy loss at each trophic level, necessitating continuous energy input into the ecosystem.
A model proposed by Odum that is applicable to any living component, depicting the basic pattern of energy flow in ecosystems through food chains and complex food webs.
Organisms like bacteria and fungi that feed on decaying matter and speed up the decaying process, releasing mineral salts back into the food chain.
Mixed farming systems involve a significant livestock sub-system as well as a cropping sub-system, and are usually intermediate in intensity between extensive and intensive agro-ecosystems.
Industrial agriculture is characterized by the substitution of fossil fuel energy for human labor and animal power.
In shifting agriculture, ash from burned forest vegetation serves as a natural fertilizer to enhance soil fertility for crop production.
In range grazing, the nutrient cycle is small and highly dependent on organic matter decomposition, with a low proportion of available herbage consumed by livestock.
Herbivores are primary consumers that feed on producers, such as plants, and are typically more numerous than producers in certain ecosystems like forests.
The Pyramid of Biomass represents the total mass of living organisms at each trophic level, showing an upright position in grassland and forest ecosystems, but can be inverted in aquatic systems.
Pyramids of numbers and biomass may be upright or inverted depending on the food chain, whereas pyramids of energy are always upright.
A primary consumer is an organism that eats producers, such as plants.
Decomposers are organisms that digest or break down formerly living material, converting it into nutrients usable by plants.
The Universal model of energy flow was proposed by Odum.
Carnivores that eat other carnivores.
Intensive agro-ecosystems maintain very high outputs through large inputs of nutrients, with higher volume and rate of nutrient cycling compared to extensive systems, often relying on inorganic fertilizers.
Livestock provide fertilizer in the form of manure and a source of power for operations like soil tillage and irrigation in mixed farming systems.
The standing biomass in field crop ecosystems is low compared to high standing biomass in natural ecosystems.
Ecological Pyramids are graphical representations that illustrate the trophic structure and function at successive trophic levels, with producers at the base and successive levels forming the apex.
Producers are essential for absorbing and converting solar energy into chemical energy, which is then utilized by consumers in the ecosystem.
When there are too many zebras, there will be insufficient shrubs and grass for them to eat, leading to starvation and a decrease in the zebra population.
An agro-ecosystem is a modified natural ecosystem where humans play a special role, influencing the composition, functioning, and stability of the system, primarily for food production.
Monocultural systems are field crop ecosystems dominated by a single crop species.
Field crop ecosystems are cultivated plant communities managed to achieve goals such as food production, financial gain, and personal satisfaction, differing from natural ecosystems in various characteristics.
A Pyramid of Numbers illustrates the relationship between producers, herbivores, and carnivores at successive trophic levels in terms of their numbers, typically showing a decrease from producers to apex consumers.
Energy flow models consider the efficiency of producers, the use of converted energy by consumers, total energy input, efficiency of assimilation, and energy loss through respiration and excretion.
Micro consumers and macro consumers differ greatly in size and metabolic relations.
Decomposers break down dead material, releasing nutrients that resupply the ecosystem and allow for greater primary production.
The interdependence of populations within a food chain refers to how the populations of different species, such as zebras and lions, rely on each other for survival, helping to maintain the balance of plant and animal populations within a community.
Fewer zebras allow more time for shrubs and grass to grow to maturity and multiply, promoting healthier plant populations.
Modifications in agro-ecosystems involve soil tillage, soil water management, weeding, and pest control to enhance the production potential of selected species.
Shifting agriculture is a widespread agro-ecosystem in the tropics characterized by rotating fields rather than crops, with a fallow period that restores soil fertility and negligible soil disturbance.
Nomadic pastoralism is a subsistence agro-ecosystem prevalent in semi-arid or arid regions, characterized by low human densities and reliance on livestock for food production.
Nomadic pastoralism allows the conversion of low-quality, inedible plant biomass, such as grass, into high-quality foods like meat and milk.
Nutrient cycles in field crop systems are open and leaky, while in natural ecosystems, they are closed and tight.
Producers are organisms that use photosynthesis to capture energy from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create carbohydrates, which are then used to form more complex molecules essential for life processes. They are primarily green plants and are also known as autotrophs.
The Pyramid of Energy provides a visual representation of the rates of energy transfer through food chains, always maintaining an upright shape due to the gradual decrease in energy content at successive trophic levels.
Producers are organisms, such as plants, that make their own food through the process of photosynthesis.
Consumers are animals that cannot make their own food and must eat plants and/or other animals.
The complexity of a food web depends on the length of the food chain.
The interlocking of several food chains results in a complex food web and multi-channel energy flows.
Shifting agriculture is a subsistence farming system where land is cleared for cropping and then abandoned after a few years to allow for forest regeneration and soil fertility recovery.
Energy subsidies in industrial agriculture lead to increased energy output per unit area but decrease the ratio of energy output to energy input.
Burning speeds up nutrient turnover in the soil but can also lead to increased nitrogen losses.
The Single Channel Energy Model explains the unidirectional flow of energy, where energy captured by autotrophs does not revert back to solar input and progressively decreases at each trophic level.
A Pyramid of Energy shows the rate of energy flow or productivity at successive energy levels in an ecosystem.
Gross net production refers to the total amount of energy produced by an ecosystem after accounting for energy losses through respiration and other processes.
A food chain shows how each living thing gets its food, linking plants, herbivores, and carnivores in a sequence where each link is food for the next.
The two basic food chains are Grazing and Detritus.
Carnivores that eat herbivores.
An interconnected pattern of food chains where most animals are part of more than one food chain.
Because the animals at the end of the chain would not get enough food and energy to stay alive.
Multi-crop systems are field crop ecosystems where no single crop species is dominant.
Field crop systems have low genetic variability, whereas natural ecosystems exhibit high genetic variability.
Field crop systems typically exhibit an opportunistic life history strategy.
By heavily relying on the use of chemical pesticides.
There is a progressive decrease in energy level at each trophic level, meaning that the shorter the food chain, the greater the available food energy.
Herbivores are animals that eat ONLY PLANTS and are also known as primary consumers.
Subsistence agro-ecosystems are agricultural systems practiced primarily for subsistence, including shifting agriculture, nomadic pastoralism, and non-industrial continuous agriculture.
It means the organism must obtain its energy by consuming other organisms, unlike autotrophic plants that manufacture their own food.
Extensive agro-ecosystems are defined as those where the annual output of consumable nitrogen is less than 20 kg per ha, with low outputs of crop or livestock products dependent largely on natural soil nutrient reserves and management.
Energy use efficiency is considerably lower in industrial agriculture compared to non-industrial agriculture, with efficiency decreasing sharply as energy subsidies increase.
The primary goal of field crop systems is purposeful management for the production of food and other agricultural commodities.
To maximize yields, largely through increasing the use of chemical fertilizers.
Consumers are organisms that obtain their energy by consuming other organisms. This includes herbivores, which eat plants (primary consumers), and predators that eat herbivores (secondary, tertiary consumers, etc.).
It is applicable to both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and confirms the basic stratified structure of ecosystems.
Trophic levels are the different orders of consumers in an ecosystem, including herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and detrivores.
Carnivores are animals that eat OTHER ANIMALS.
Animals and people who eat both animals and plants.
Industrial agro-ecosystems are agricultural systems geared towards a market economy, including ranching, industrial agriculture, and feedlot animal production.
Mixed farming systems integrate cropping and livestock subsystems within a single agro-ecosystem.
Field crop ecosystems are largely controlled by humans, while natural ecosystems are primarily controlled by biological processes.
Their role in further depleting the already low organic matter content of tropical soils.
High capital expenditure on buildings and machinery, specialization of production, and large outputs of wastes that are not recycled within the system.
