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    Energy Flow in Ecosystem

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    Ecosystems maintain themselves through the cycling of energy and nutrients. Primary producers like plants use solar energy through photosynthesis to produce organic materials. Herbivores consume plants as the second trophic level, and predators that eat herbivores are the third trophic level. On average, only about 10% of energy is transferred between trophic levels, with the rest lost through processes like respiration and non-predatory death. Decomposers break down dead organisms and return nutrients to the ecosystem in inorganic form, and are more important than producers in terms of energy flow.

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    Energy Flow in Ecosystem

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    Deep
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    Ecosystems maintain themselves through the cycling of energy and nutrients. Primary producers like plants use solar energy through photosynthesis to produce organic materials. Herbivores consume plants as the second trophic level, and predators that eat herbivores are the third trophic level. On average, only about 10% of energy is transferred between trophic levels, with the rest lost through processes like respiration and non-predatory death. Decomposers break down dead organisms and return nutrients to the ecosystem in inorganic form, and are more important than producers in terms of energy flow.

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    Energy flow of ecosystem

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    Ecosystems maintain themselves through the cycling of energy and nutrients. Primary producers like plants use solar energy through photosynthesis to produce organic materials. Herbivores consume plants as the second trophic level, and predators that eat herbivores are the third trophic level. On average, only about 10% of energy is transferred between trophic levels, with the rest lost through processes like respiration and non-predatory death. Decomposers break down dead organisms and return nutrients to the ecosystem in inorganic form, and are more important than producers in terms of energy flow.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    23 views3 pages

    Energy Flow in Ecosystem

    Uploaded by

    Deep
    Ecosystems maintain themselves through the cycling of energy and nutrients. Primary producers like plants use solar energy through photosynthesis to produce organic materials. Herbivores consume plants as the second trophic level, and predators that eat herbivores are the third trophic level. On average, only about 10% of energy is transferred between trophic levels, with the rest lost through processes like respiration and non-predatory death. Decomposers break down dead organisms and return nutrients to the ecosystem in inorganic form, and are more important than producers in terms of energy flow.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 3

    ENERGY FLOW IN ECOSYSTEM

    Ecosystems maintain themselves by cycling energy and nutrients obtained


    from external sources. At the first trophic level, primary producers (plants,
    algae, and some bacteria) use solar energy to produce organic plant material
    through photosynthesis. Herbivores—animals that feed solely on plants—
    make up the second trophic level. Predators that eat herbivores comprise
    the third trophic level; if larger predators are present, they represent still
    higher trophic levels. Organisms that feed at several trophic levels (for
    example, grizzly bears that eat berries and salmon) are classified at the
    highest of the trophic levels at which they feed. Decomposers, which include
    bacteria, fungi, moulds, worms, and insects, break down wastes and dead
    organisms and return nutrients to the soil.

    On average about 10 percent of net energy production at one trophic level is


    passed on to the next level. Processes that reduce the energy transferred
    between trophic levels include respiration, growth and reproduction,
    defecation, and nonpredatory death (organisms that die but are not eaten
    by consumers). The nutritional quality of material that is consumed also
    influences how efficiently energy is transferred, because consumers can
    convert high-quality food sources into new living tissue more efficiently than
    low-quality food sources.

    The low rate of energy transfer between trophic levels makes decomposers
    generally more important than producers in terms of energy flow.
    Decomposers process large amounts of organic material and return
    nutrients to the ecosystem in inorganic form, which are then taken up again
    by primary producers. Energy is not recycled during decomposition, but
    rather is released, mostly as heat (this is what makes compost piles and
    fresh garden mulch warm). Figure shows the flow of energy (dark arrows)
    and nutrients (light arrows) through ecosystems.
    THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ENERGY FLOW IN THE
    ECOSYSTEM

    1. In any ecosystem, there are two important processes,


    energy flow and chemical cycling. Energy flow describes
    how energy enters the ecosystem and gets passed
    through each trophic level. Chemical cycling relates to
    how abiotic and the biotic environments interact with
    each other through the exchange of elements like
    nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, phosphorus, and the
    compound water. Both of these processes are similar in
    that there is a transfer of substances from one trophic
    level to another. The only difference between the two
    processes is that energy cannot be recycled but
    materials, like nutrients, can.
    2. Production is known as the rate at which energy and
    materials are consumed by organisms. This is why
    primary producers are called "producers", because they
    produce materials that support other organisms. The
    metabolic use for growth and reproduction of organic
    materials is known as consumption. In other words, any
    organism including autotrophs, which make organic
    compounds from materials they take from the
    environment, are considered to be consumers. Another
    ecosystem process is known as decomposition, which
    can be defined as the breakdown of organic materials to
    inorganic ones. For example, in cellular metabolism,
    organisms perform decomposition and they break down
    organic material. This results in the release of inorganic
    products such as carbon dioxide and ammonia to the
    environment
    3. Energy is the ability to do work like metabolism. As it is
    passed from one trophic level to another, much - in fact,
    most of it is lost. Of course, in every ecosystem, there must
    be energy input, which, in nature, is mostly solar energy.
    Everyday, the Earth receives enormous amounts of solar
    radiation. The atmosphere absorbs most of this energy, but
    some energy is reflected or scattered depending on the
    amount of cloud cover in the area and the quantity of dust
    present in the air.
    4. The amount of solar energy is one of the limiting factors of
    photosynthetic productivity. Most of the energy that
    reaches the Earth hits the ground - only a small amount
    actually hits the surface of plants. Out of that energy, only
    some of it has suitable wavelengths so the plants can
    absorb it. Then, out of THAT, only some of the energy that
    is absorbed by the plants is converted into chemical energy
    by the process of photosynthesis. So just by this simple
    example, you can see just how much energy is lost as it
    passes through the gigantic web of systems.

    In an idealized energy flow chart, 10% of each trophic level’s energy is


    wasted in passing energy to the next trophic level. However, since energy
    transfer in actual ecosystems is not "ideal", and is extremely inefficient,
    there is actually much more energy loss, and therefore decreasing ecological
    efficiency. This loss of energy occurs as a result of the species using the
    energy for growth, cellular respiration, faeces, and other metabolic
    processes. Due to this fact, in each area of study, there is a decreasing
    amount of energy going from trophic level to trophic level.

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