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Energy Flow in Ecosystems

This document discusses food chains and food webs in ecosystems. It explains that food chains and webs describe how energy and nutrients are transferred between organisms, from producers like plants through various consumers and finally decomposers. A food chain represents a single pathway of energy transfer, while a food web shows multiple intersecting chains. As energy moves up through trophic levels, most of it is lost at each step so the biomass at higher levels is much smaller than at lower levels in the food chain.

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15 views5 pages

Energy Flow in Ecosystems

This document discusses food chains and food webs in ecosystems. It explains that food chains and webs describe how energy and nutrients are transferred between organisms, from producers like plants through various consumers and finally decomposers. A food chain represents a single pathway of energy transfer, while a food web shows multiple intersecting chains. As energy moves up through trophic levels, most of it is lost at each step so the biomass at higher levels is much smaller than at lower levels in the food chain.

Uploaded by

valloellamae857
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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People and Earth’s Ecosystem

Module 2 Lesson 4
Transformation of energy in the ecosystem
(Food chain and Food web)

Transformation of energy in the ecosystem


Food chains and webs describe the transfer of energy within an ecosystem, from one
organism to another. In other words, they show who eats whom.
Energy and nutrients are passed around through the food chain, when one organism
eats another organism. Any energy remaining in a dead organism is consumed by
decomposers. Nutrients can be cycled through an ecosystem but energy is simply lost
over time.
Food chains and food webs are diagrams that represent feeding relationships.
Essentially, they show who eats whom. In this way, they model how energy and matter
move through ecosystems.

Food chain
A food chain represents a single pathway by which energy and matter flow through an
ecosystem. A food chain describes how energy and nutrients move through an
ecosystem. At the basic level there are plants that produce the energy, then it moves up
to higher-level organisms like herbivores. After that when carnivores eat the herbivores,
energy is transferred from one to the other. In the food chain, energy is transferred from
one living organism through another in the form of food. There are primary producers,
primary consumers, secondary consumers and decomposers- all part of the food chain.
Another examples of Food chain
plants - deer - humans
grass - goats - tigers
flowers - mice - snakes - eagles
grass - rabbit - fox – coyote
Food web
A food web represents multiple pathways through which energy and matter flow through
an ecosystem. It includes many intersecting food chains. It demonstrates that most
organisms eat, and are eaten, by more than one species.
Amount of Biomass passed up the Food Pyramid
(in pounds)
In a food chain, as energy gets passed up the different trophic levels in a food chain, most of it gets lost.
So, if there is 1000 joules of energy in a primary producer (e.g. grass), then only around 1000 joules of
energy will be passed onto the next trophic level. In food chains, we represent the flow of energy by using
arrows.

*Biomass just means the mass of living organisms.


The upper part of pyramid, the bars get smaller. This means that the total mass of the
organisms on each level is decreasing. So, even though an individual snake weighs more
than an individual grasshopper, the total mass of grasshoppers will be greater than the
total mass of snakes.
Producers (e.g. plants and algae) transfer about 1% of the incident energy from light for
photosynthesis. This is because not all the light lands on the photosynthesis part of a
plant. Every time we move up a trophic level, an organism is consumed by another
organism. But during this step, most of the biomass is either lost or used. Only around
10% of the biomass will be transferred up to the next trophic level. So, the tertiary
consumer will have around 0.1% of the biomass of the producer in the food chain.

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