desert Ecosystem

By: Abigail Gonzalez

Period 4

Desert Ecosystem

Desert Energy Pyramid

Vocabulary
Term

Definition

Example

Nonexample

Autotroph

An organism that
makes its own food

creosote bush

mountain lion

Heterotroph

Organisms that need to

consume food to get
energy

sake

cacti

Herbivore

Only eats plants

pronghorn

succulent plants

Carnivore

Only eats animals

mountain lion

cacti

Decomposer

Consumes dead or
decaying material and
recycles it back to the
soil

beetles

roses

Image

Population Graph

Discussion QuestiOns:
The sun gives energy to a creosote bush which is an autotroph which means it makes its own food through
photosynthesis, then the energy goes to a pronghorn , a herbivore, which is an animal that eats plants only. From the
pronghorn, the energy goes to mountain lions which are carnivores and they only eat meat. Lastly energy goes to the
decomposers which are consumers that eat dead or decaying material and recycle it back to the soil.
As the the level of the pyramid increases in size the amount of energy also increases. Every time the energy rising, the
energy is increasing by 10%. After the energy reaches level 4, then the energy is lost as heat or undigested. Two
differences from a food web and an energy pyramid are that a food web is arranged by who eats who and the top predator
is at the very top. For an energy pyramid tertiary consumers belong at the top. In an energy pyramid, the bottom one has
the most energy and for a food web the bottom one are the autotrophs.Two similarities from a food web and an energy
pyramid are that they are both divided into 4 sections and that in the bottom part producers are at the top.The importance
of autotrophs in the ecosystem is that autotrophs provide energy and they produce food for us. If a cati were to be removed
the ecosystem would be affected because the pronghorn would only have like about 2 foods to eat from and there would
be one less producer here which means that there would be 1% less energy.