Download rainforest energy and nutrient flows

RAINFOREST
ENERGY AND
NUTRIENT FLOWS
ENERGY LOST
AS HEAT
EN
Precipitation
ERG
YF
R
OM
E
TH
1ST TROPHIC LEVEL
Primary producers
Energy flows
Each link where
energy flows from
one level to another
is called a trophic
level.
The process of
transfer of energy
from one trophic
level to the next is
between 5 and 20
per cent efficient.
The remaining
energy is lost as
heat.
Leaf litter
Topsoil
Subsoil
Parent rock
Discovery for schools program, North Coast, DECCW 2010/156
SU
N
Atmospheric
gases
Nutrients
used in
photosynthesis
Evaporation
Nutrient incorporation in
plant biomass.
Nutrients are the food materials
which plants use to promote growth
Nutrients in plant
matter consumed
by animals
2ND TROPHIC LEVEL
Primary consumers
Herbivore
3RD TROPHIC LEVEL
Secondary consumers
Litterfall:
leaves and small
branches fall to
form leaf litter
Throughfall
and stem flow
The decomposer system in the
soil is the major energy pathway
of forest ecosystems. Without the
activity of soil organisms, nutrients
would become locked up and
be released only by fire or slow
chemical reaction.
Plants take up nutrients through
their roots.
Litterfall is the large amount of
dead leaves, branches, flowers
and fruits which are shed from the
canopy, carrying nutrients from the
forest biomass to the soil.
Carnivore
Throughfall occurs when nutrients,
mainly potassium, are leached
from leaves by rain and carried to
the forest floor. Stemflow is water
running down branches and trunks
which also removes nutrients from
the canopy to the leaf litter.
4TH TROPHIC LEVEL
Tertiary consumers
Top carnivore
Decomposers release nutrient
from plant and animal biomass
Litter decomposition
Because of the high rate of
decomposition, the leaf litter of
rainforests is not as deep as the leaf
litter of eucalypt forest, although
seasonal variation does occur.
Roots take
in nutrients
Stream discharge