Ecology

3. Eats primary consumers (carnivores/omnivores).
5. A diagram that shows energy loss at each trophic level.
6. A biological community and its physical environment.
8. A living or once-living organism in an environment (e.g., food, decomposers).
11. Any biotic or abiotic factor that restricts population growth.
13. An organism that eats others for energy.
15. Eats producers (herbivores).
16. Total amount of living matter in a given area.

1. Breaks down dead organisms, recycling nutrients.
2. The maximum number of individuals an environment can support.
4. Top predators; eat secondary consumers.
7. A linear series showing who eats whom in an ecosystem.
9. A non-living part of the environment (e.g., water, sunlight).
10. An organism that makes its own food (usually plants via photosynthesis).
12. Only ~10% of energy is transferred from one level to the next; the rest is lost.
14. A more complex network of interconnected food chains.