Emmylou Tejol

BS Entrep 1-3

Assignment No. 1

1. Choose any animal or plant in your geographic area and write an essay describing how it is
adapted to abiotic and biotic factors in its environment
Ants survive in adaptation of biotic and abiotic in its environment. When they feel that the
weather is not good (the biotic factor) they will collect food to stock through working together
because they are very small. They also eat insects (biotic factor) and carry it to their place
through lifting together. They have their cooperation to get food and to survive.

2. Give an account on energy flow in an ecosystem.

Energy enters an ecosystem from the Sun. Solar radiations pass through the atmosphere and
are absorbed by the Earth’s surface. These radiations help plants in carrying out the process of
photosynthesis. Also, they help maintain the Earth’s temperature for the survival of living
organisms. Some solar radiations are reflected by the Earth’s surface. Only 2-10 percent of solar
energy is captured by green plants (producers) during photosynthesis to be converted into
food. The rate at which the biomass is produced by plants during photosynthesis is termed as
‘gross primary productivity’. When these green plants are consumed by herbivores, only 10% of
the stored energy from producers is transferred to herbivores. The remaining 90 % of this
energy is used by plants for various processes such as respiration, growth, and reproduction.
Similarly, only 10% of the energy of herbivores is transferred to carnivores. This is known as ten
percent law of energy flow.

3. Name the ecological pyramid that can never be inverted.

Give a suitable explanation for it.
Pyramid of number: The relationship between producers and consumers in an ecosystem can
be represented in the form of a pyramid in terms of number is called pyramid of number. For
most ecosystems like grassland, pyramids of numbers are upright because numbering of
organisms decreases at successively higher trophic level.
Pyramid of energy : The relationship between producers and consumers in an ecosystem can
be represented in the found of pyramid in terms of flow of energy called pyramid of energy.
Always upright as energy is lost as heat at each step. It reflects more accurately the law of
thermodynamics, with loss of energy being depicted at each transfer to another trophic level;
hence the pyramid is always right.