Name: Richard Cartagena

PT 7.3: Trophic Levels

____________________________

Learning Target
(HS-LS2-4) I can use mathematical representations to support claims for the cycling
of matter and flow of energy among organisms in an ecosystem.

Guiding Question
How are matter and energy transferred in an ecosystem?

Task 1 - Vocabulary Review

DIRECTIONS: Answer the following questions. Refer to your PT 7.3 notes for the answers.
1. A producer which is also known as an ___________ can produce their own Autotrophs
food and gain energy from the sun.

2. A consumer which is also known as a ___________ consumes other plants Heterotrophs

and animals for energy.

3. This consumer only eats meat. Tiger

4. This consumer only eats plants. Koala

5. This consumer eats plants and animals. Bear

6. A ___________ kills and eats other animals. These animals that are eaten Predator
are known as ___________.
Prey

7. A ___________ _______ shows how producers and consumers depend on Food web
one another for food.

8. In a food web, the arrows point TO the ___________ and AWAY from the Consumers
organism being ___________.
Consumed

9. A ___________ ___________shows the levels of consumption among Trophic

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 producers and consumers. Pyramid

10. ___________ create their own food. Producers

11. What do primary consumers eat? Producers

12. What are primary consumers known as in an ecosystem? The herbivores

and omnivores
of the
ecosystem.

13. What do secondary consumers eat? Primary

Consumers

14. Secondary Consumers are the ___________ and ___________ of the The carnivores
ecosystem. and omnivores
of the
ecosystem.

15. What do tertiary consumers eat? eat secondary

and primary
consumers.

16. Tertiary consumers are the _____ ___________ of the ecosystem. Top predator” of
the ecosystem.

17. A trophic pyramid shows the flow of ___________ between organisms in The energy
an ecosystem.

18. How much energy is transferred between each trophic level? 10%

19. A ___________ shows the amount of mass that each trophic level needs biomass
in order to support the organism above it. pyramid

20. On the trophic pyramid below, label each level of the pyramid and the energy transfers.

Trophic Level % Energy Transfer

1 Top A 1 KG
Carnivore

2 Primary B 10 KG
Carnivore

3 Herbivores C 100 KG

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 4 Producers D 1000 KG

Answer questions 9-11 based on the food

pyramid to the left.

21. Which organism is a producer in this food

pyramid? Which are consumers?
Soil and grass are producers, while
hawks, snakes, and bunnies are
consumers.

22. Where does the producer get its energy?

Producers, such as grass, get their
energy from the sun through a process
called photosynthesis.

23. State which organism in this food chain is a

predator and which organism is a prey.
(hint they might be both!)
The hawks and snakes are predators,
while the bunnies are prey.

Task 2 - Predator/Prey Interactions

DIRECTIONS: For this task you will explore a simulation of predators and prey.
1. Open this simulator: Ecology Lab. You may want to split your screen so you can look at
this document while running the simulation.
2. The simulation will start with Plant A and Plant B highlighted. Click on the rabbit and
then select “eats plant A.” Run the simulation until it reaches 100 days. Enter the final
totals of each organism's population in Table 1 below.
a. You can see the population numbers by hovering your mouse cursor over the line on the graph.
3. Click “Presets.” Click on the rabbit and then select “eats plant B.” Run the simulation until
it reaches 100 days. Enter the final totals in Table 1 below.
4. Click “Presets” again. Click the rabbit and then select BOTH “eats plant A” & “eats plant
B.” Run the simulation until it reaches 100 days. Enter the final totals in Table I below.
Table I
Plant A final Plant B final Rabbit final
population population population

Rabbit (eats only plant A) 3335 4998 8333

Rabbit (eats only plant B) 10,000 581 10,581

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 Rabbit (eats both Plant A & B) 0 3333 3333

5. Click “Presets.” Click on the rabbit and then select “eats plant A.” Click on the snail and
then select “eats plant B.” Click on the deer and then select BOTH “eats plant A” & “eats
plant B.” Run the simulation until it reaches 100 days. Describe what happened to both
plants and the 3 herbivores.
Plant A didn't follow through, while plant B followed through for all 100 days. Only
herbivores C and B made it through all 100 days while A did not.

6. Click “Presets.” Select “plant C.” Click on the snail and then select BOTH “eats plant A” &
“eats plant B.” Click on the squirrel and select “eats plant A,” “eats plant B,” “eats plant C,”
and “eats snails.” Describe what happens to the squirrel in this setting. Fill in Table II.
The squirrel was the only one who made it all 100 days while the rest did not within
days.

Table II
Plant A Plant B Plant C Snail Squirrel

Final Population 252 5006 754 0 14978

7. Click “All Off.” Select plant A, the rabbit that “eats plant A,” and the wolf that “eats
herbivore A.” Run the simulation until it reaches 100 days. Describe what happened in
this ecosystem then enter the population numbers of each organism at the days
specified in Table III below.
Nothing really happened, everything went pretty smoothly, the rabbit population
made it through all 100 days.

Table III
Day 5 Day 20 Day 50 Day 100

Plant A population 3824 3850 4547 4980

Rabbit population 3114 2306 1801 1672

Wolf population 13 41 126 165

8. Describe the relationship between the populations of each of the organisms in this
ecosystem based on all the simulations you just completed. (minimum of 5 sentences!)
Well Plant B population always seemed to outnumber Plant A. The rabbit population
compared to the snail and the deer always outnumbered there. Although the wolf was
in the mix, the rabbit population still managed to stop it. While the squirrels
population was least effective through it all. Besides that, overall I had a great
experience with this activity, seeing how the ecosystem would turn out if I was
controlling it, pretty great experience.