Download Biology Energy Flow Through an Ecosystem

Where does it all go?
 Trace
the flow of energy and nutrients
(matter) in the living (BIOTIC) and nonliving
(ABIOTIC) factors in the environment.
 The
study of the
interactions
between
organisms and
their
environment.
Levels of Organization
large
smallest
group
one
all
organisms
interacting
living
individual
of
region
unit
similar
different
organs
and nonliving
ofliving
with
working
living
the
cells
kinds
same
thing
organized
of
together
kind
populations
things
typical
tissues
living
interacting
plants
working
to
ininwork
one
an and
area
within
together
ecosystem
a
animals
certain area
that
includes several
ecosystems
cell
 Energy
in an ecosystem originally comes from
the sun
 Energy flows (moves) through an ecosystem
from producers to consumers
 Use
sunlight as their source of energy
 Producers
contain chlorophyll, a pigment
that absorbs and traps
light energy
 Examples:



Plants
Algae
Some bacteria, protists



Niche = “job”/”role”
Captured light energy is transformed into a
chemical energy that can be used by ALL
organisms (PHOTOSYNTHESIS)
Other producers that do not use light;
use other chemical present in the
environment to produce a usable
chemical energy (CHEMOSYNTHESIS)
Tube worms
Black smoker
(thermal vent)
 Heterotrophs
eat other organisms to obtain
energy




Herbivores – eat only plants
Carnivores – eat only other animals (meat)
Omnivores – eat both plants and meat
Scavengers – eat dead, waste
 By
definition, are considered consumers but
they are “special”….they are responsible for
breaking down dead and waste to its smaller
parts to put back into the soil to be reused
(“recyclers”)
 Examples:
fungi
some bacteria
some protists
 The
purpose of many symbiotic relationships
is to obtain energy and matter needed for
survival.
 Energy flows through an ecosystem in ONE
direction

From producers to various levels of consumers
A
complex model that shows many possible
paths through an ecosystem is called
a FOOD WEB

More realistic
 Simple
model that show one path through an
ecosystem is called a FOOD CHAIN

ARROWS represent direction of energy flow
 When
constructing your food chain,
you must…
1.
2.
3.

Start with a producer
Use ARROWS to show energy flow
Minimum of 3 links (see example below)
HOMEWORK: Create 3 food chains using the
above rules.
 Each
level in a
food
chain/web is a
TROPHIC LEVEL
“trophic”- feeding
 Each
level depends
on the one before
it for energy and
matter
 Graphic
representations of the relative
amounts of energy or matter at each trophic
level
 Include:



Pyramid of Energy
Pyramid of Biomass
Pyramid of Numbers
 We
stated that these were graphic
representations of the relative amounts of
energy or matter at each level
 Large
amounts of energy are lost at each
link, thus only a small portion is passed to
the next level


As you go up the pyramid, you find less
food/energy available for use – only 10% is passed
on from the previous level
We call this the “10% Rule”