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Chapter 19

The document discusses energy flow through ecosystems including food chains, food webs, and trophic levels. It defines key terms like producers, consumers, herbivores and decomposers. Examples of food chains from plants to higher consumers are provided, as are explanations of how energy is lost at each trophic level. Pyramids of numbers, biomass and energy are also addressed.

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26 views

Chapter 19

The document discusses energy flow through ecosystems including food chains, food webs, and trophic levels. It defines key terms like producers, consumers, herbivores and decomposers. Examples of food chains from plants to higher consumers are provided, as are explanations of how energy is lost at each trophic level. Pyramids of numbers, biomass and energy are also addressed.

Uploaded by

shayaanyar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CHAPTER 19

ORGANISMS AND THEIR


ENVIRONMENT
ENERGY FLOW

• The sun is the principal source of energy input to biological systems.


• Energy flow is NOT a cycle; it starts from the sun, and then that energy is harnessed by plants which are
eaten by animals which other animals eat.
• At each step, energy is lost to the environment.
• Food chain: a chart showing the flow of energy (food) from one organism to the next beginning with a
producer, for example:
 Mahogany Tree→ caterpillar→ Song bird→ hawk

 The source of all energy in a food chain is light energy from the Sun. The arrows in a food chain show the transfer of
energy from one trophic level to the next. Energy is transferred from one organism to another by ingestion (eating)
KEY DEFINITIONS:
• Food web: showing a network of interconnected food chains.

• Energy is transferred between organisms in a food chain by ingestion

• Producer: an organism that makes its organic nutrients, usually using energy from sunlight
through photosynthesis
• Consumer: an organism that gets its energy by feeding on other organisms.

• Consumers may be classed as primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary according to


their position in a food chain
• Herbivore: an animal that gets its energy by eating plants

• Carnivore: an animal that gets its energy by eating other animals

• Decomposer: an organism that gets its energy from dead or waste organic matter (i.e. a
saprotroph)
FOOD CHAINS: EXAMPLE FROM BOOK

 Plants → Hares → Wolves

 Grass blade → grasshopper → Lizard → Hawk

 Grass seed → mouse → snake → mongoose

 Single celled algae in lake → water fleas + crustaceans → small carps → catfish
(millions) (thousands) (hundreds) (4-5)

Producers → Primary consumers → Secondary consumers → Tertiary consumers


PYRAMID OF
NUMBERS CAN
BE INVERTED
PYRAMID OF
BIOMASS WILL
ALWAYS BE
PYRAMIDAL AS
HERE MASS OF
AN ORGANISM
IS CONSIDERED
PYRAMID
OF
ENERGY
FOOD CHAINS USUALLY HAVE FEWER THAN FIVE TROPHIC LEVELS
BECAUSE ENERGY TRANSFER IS INEFFICIENT:

• Sun produces light, and less than 1% of the energy falls onto leaves.
• Producers ‘fix’ only about 5-8% of that energy because of: transmission,
reflection and incorrect wavelength.
• Primary consumers only get between 5-10% because some parts are
indigestible (e.g., cellulose) and do not eat the whole plant.
• Secondary consumer gets between 10-20% because the animal matter is
more digestible & has a higher energy value.
• At each level, heat is lost by respiration.
FOOD WEB
 Food webs are more realistic ways of showing connections between organisms
within an ecosystem as animals rarely exist on just one type of food source.
 Food webs give us a lot more information about the transfer of energy in an
ecosystem They also show interdependence- how the change in one population
can affect others within the food web.
 Food webs for land, sea, fresh water, ponds, rivers and stream will be different.
 Food webs also change with season and with food supply. eg. If hare population
decrease, then grass and herbs population size will go up (producers) long with
increase in Hawk and snake population (secondary consumers).
FOOD WEB

Example from
book

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