5. Energy Transfer in Ecosystems 0809 WEBSITE.ppt
- 1. Energy Transfer in Ecosystems
- 2. Producers… • Are autotrophs that convert energy entering the ecosystem so other organisms can use it – Ex. Plants, protists, bacteria, algae • Most use solar energy to do photosynthesis some use inorganic molecules to do chemosynthesis • Producers add biomass to an ecosystem – Biomass is all of the organic material in an ecosystem available to organisms
- 3. An ecosystem is… • All of the biotic and abiotic components of an area • The amount of energy an ecosystem receives has an effect on its makeup • All energy entering the ecosystem from the sun or other abiotic factors needs to be converted to be useful to other organisms
- 4. Amount of producers will affect the types of consumers present in the ecosystem • Consumers are heterotrophs that must eat other organisms for nutrition • Consumers are grouped according to their food consumption: – Herbivores eat producers – Carnivores eat other consumers – Omnivores eat both producers and consumers – Detritivores eat wastes and parts of dead consumers and producers. Some detritivores are decomposers • Decomposers are bacteria and fungi that decay any living material
- 5. What kind of consumer? HERBIVORE DECOMPOSER OMNIVORE HERBIVORE CARNIVORE
- 6. All ecosystems have energy flow caused by organisms eating one another • Energy flows through ecosystems from producers to consumers • Energy flow can be diagrammed in many ways including: – Ecological Pyramids • Trophic Level Diagrams • Energy Pyramids – Food chains – Food webs
- 7. Trophic level diagrams • An organism’s trophic level shows their position in the sequence of energy flow • Producers belong to the 1st trophic level (are most abundant) • Herbivores belong to the 2nd trophic level (also called primary consumers) • Predators of herbivores belong to the 3rd trophic level (also called secondary consumers) • Most ecosystems only have 3 or 4 trophic levels
- 8. Type of Consumer Trophic Level • Secondary Consumer • Primary Consumer • Producer • 3 • 2 • 1
- 9. Energy Pyramids • Energy pyramids show how much energy is passed from one trophic level to the next • On average 10% of all energy consumed can be passed on to the next trophic level, but it can be as low as 1% or as high as 20% • Most energy consumed contributes to maintaining homeostasis, respiration, growth, and reproduction
- 10. Food Chains • Food chains are single pathways of energy transfer. • The arrows represent the way the energy is flowing. • So the energy is flowing from the frog to the snake in this food chain • Food chains are too simple to encompass a whole ecosystems interactions
- 11. Food webs • Food webs are made of many interacting food chains. • More accurate than food chains since most organisms feed on more than one thing and are eaten by more than one thing • If one part of the food web in lost there can be serious consequences for the entire ecosystem