Environmental
Science
Trophic Levels
Ecosystem
• All living and non-living components in a
particular area
Biotic
•Plants
•Animals
•Microbes
Abiotic
•Soil
•Water
•Air
•Detritus
Term Review
•
•
•
•
Ecosystem
Species
Wetland
Food Web
Wetland Food Web
carp
Spotted salamander
mosquitofish
Raccoon
Black rat snake
gnatcatcher
kingfisher
Poison Ivy
River birch
Hawk Beaver
Great Blue Heron
detritus
blackbird
Dogwood
Silver Maple
Dragonfly
Pickeral Frog
White Oak
Virginia Creeper
Trumpet Creeper
Gray Tree Frog
Wood duck
Smartweed
Sycamore
Mosquito
woodpecker
Nettle
Touch-me-not
Food Chain
• one portion of a food web
Sycamore
Wood duck
Hawk
5
Activity 3: Trophic Levels
• Feeding levels in an ecosystem
• Read definitions and identify the
species from the wetlands that fit in
each.
Producers
Organisms that make their own food
• 13
• trees: sycamore, white oak, overcup oak, silver
maple, river birch, dogwood
• shrubs: buttonbush
• herbs: touch-me-not, smartweed, stinging nettle
• vine: poison ivy, trumpet vine, virginia creeper
• (green algae, bluegreen algae)
Consumers
• Feed off other organisms
• Broken down into subcategories:
Herbivores
Eat primarily (mostly) plants
•
•
•
•
beaver
wood duck
male mosquito
(blackbird - non-breeding)
Carnivores
Eat primarily animals
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
pickeral frog
gray tree frog
dragonfly
spotted
salamander
kingfisher
female mosquito
Red-shouldered
Hawk
Great Blue Heron
Bluegill
• Catfish
• mosquitofish
• Pileated
woodpecker
• Gnatcatcher
• Rat snake
• Mink
• (blackbird breeding)
Omnivores
Eat both plants and animals
•
•
•
•
•
•
red-winged blackbird
raccoon
carp
crayfish
mosquito larva
painted turtle
Detritivores
Eat dead material - detritus
•
•
•
•
pickerel frog tadpoles
gray tree frog tadpoles
catfish
painted turtle
Decomposers
Break down then absorb dead material
• some fungi
• some bacteria
Note: Some sources put this
as a subcategory of
consumer.
Trophic Pyramid
Based on Biomass
3o
Decomposers
Detritivores
3o Consumer =
Top Carnivore
2o Consumer
Carnivore
Primary 1o Consumer
Herbivore
Producers
Transfer
Energy
100 lb
Grass
Energy
10 lb
Cow
1 lb
coyote
Feces
Feces