Energy flow in an ecosystem

What is meant by ‘ecosystem’?

Which are different types of ecosystem?
How do interaction take place between biotic and abiotic factors of ecosystem.
living Organisms are classified into ?

An ecosystem includes all of the living things like plants, animals and other organisms in a given area,
interacting with each other and also with non-living environmental factors like weather, earth, sun, soil,
climate and atmosphere.
Abiotic factors - non living factors such as sun, soil n water
biotic factors (living organisms) are connected through various bio-geo-chemical cycles for the flow of
matter and flow of energy .

Food Chain: Introduction

A food chain explains which organism eats another organism in the environment. The food
chain is a linear sequence of organisms where nutrients and energy is transferred from one
organism to the other. This occurs when one organism consumes another organism. It begins
with the producer organism, follows the chain and ends with the decomposer organism. There is
a definite sequence in these

interactions. wq

What is a Food Chain?

A food chain refers to the order of events in an ecosystem, where one living organism eats
another organism, and later that organism is consumed by another larger organism. The flow of
nutrients and energy from one organism to another at different trophic levels forms a food chain.
The food chain also explains the feeding pattern or relationship between living organisms.
Trophic level refers to the sequential stages in a food chain, starting with producers at the
bottom, followed by primary, secondary and tertiary consumers. Every level in a food chain is
known as a trophic level.
The food chain consists of four major parts, namely:

The Sun: The sun is the initial source of energy, which provides energy for everything on the
planet.
Producers: The producers in a food chain include all autotrophs such as phytoplankton,
cyanobacteria, algae, and green plants. This is the first stage in a food chain. The producers
make up the first level of a food chain. The producers utilise the energy from the sun to make
food. Producers are also known as autotrophs as they make their own food. Producers are any
plant or other organisms that produce their own nutrients through photosynthesis.
Consumers: Consumers are all organisms that are dependent on plants or other organisms for
food. This is the largest part of a food web, as it contains almost all living organisms. It includes
herbivores which are animals that eat plants, cow, goat, sheep, deer, rabbit
carnivores which are animals that eat other animals, parasites that live on other organisms by
harming them and lastly the scavengers, which are animals that eat dead animals’ carcasses.
Here, herbivores are known as primary consumers and carnivores are secondary consumers.
The second trophic level includes organisms that eat producers. Therefore, primary consumers
or herbivores are organisms in the second trophic level.
Top consumers feed on herbivores and carnivores. No one feeds on them. Lion n tiger marine
animals, examples include sharks, tuna, whales, dolphins etc.
Omnivores-Mixed consumers - feed on herbivores, carnivores eg. Humans, bear.
Decomposers: Decomposers are organisms that get energy from dead or waste organic
material. This is the last stage in a food chain. Decomposers are an integral part of a food chain,
as they convert organic waste materials into inorganic materials, which enriches the soil or land
with nutrients.
Decomposers complete a life cycle. They help in recycling the nutrients as they provide
nutrients to soil or oceans, that can be utilised by autotrophs or producers. Thus, starting a
whole new food chain.
After understanding the food chain, we realise how one organism is dependent upon another
organism for survival.

Continuous interaction between producers, consumers and decomposers in a definite

sequence is called as food chain.

Food Web:
Several interconnected food chains form a food web. A food web is similar to a food chain but
the food web is comparatively larger than a food chain. Occasionally, a single organism is
consumed by many predators or it consumes several other organisms. Due to this, many trophic
levels get interconnected. A trophic level is the step at which the organism obtains its food in the
chain.
The food chain fails to showcase the flow of energy in the right way. But, the food web is able to
show the proper representation of energy flow, as it displays the interactions between different
organisms.
What is the difference between the food chain and the food web?
A food chain follows a single path, where animals discover food. But a food web shows different
paths, where plants and animals are connected. A food web comprises several food chains.
In a food chain, an organism eats a single item, whereas in a food web an organism consumes
multiple items. In a food chain, there is a singular path for energy flow and in a food web, there
are different paths for energy flow.

Flow of nutrients through an ecosystem is cyclic.

Answer:
All organisms need nutrients for their growth.
The nutrients carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, iron, calcium etc. are circulated and recycled from the
biosphere to living organisms and after their death back to the biosphere.
Nutrients are taken up by plants and then passed on to the consumers.
Eventually, after their death, all types of consumers, are decomposed by decomposers like
bacteria and fungi and the nutrients are again released into the biosphere and are, used again
by living organisms.
Therefore, the flow of nutrients through an ecosystem is cyclic.

Explain in detail the inter-relationship between the food chain and food web.
Answer:
Interaction go on continuously between producers, consumers and decomposers.
There is a definite sequence in these interactions which is called the food chain.
Each chain consists of four, five or more links.
An ecosystem consists of many food chains that are interconnected at various levels. Thus, a
food web is formed.
An organism may be the prey for many other organisms.
For example, an insect feeds upon leaves of various plants but the same insect is the prey for
different animals like frog, wall lizard, birds, etc.
Thus, many food chains interconnected together form an intricate web called as food web.

The energy pyramid Refer Pg 82

Trophic level
A trophic level refers to a step in a food chain in an ecosystem. Each level in the food chain is
called a trophic level. A trophic level is the step at which the organism obtains its food in the
chain. Simply speaking, the trophic level of an organism is the number of steps. - it is from the
point when the food chain begins. Furthermore, the classification of organisms of a chain is into
these levels according to their feeding behaviour. 
The amount of matter and energy gradually decreases from producers at the lowest level to top
consumers at the highest level.

Pyramid of energy
Pyramid of Energy - Concept
An energy pyramid is the best way to assess the functional roles of the trophic levels in an
ecosystem.
An energy pyramid depicts the amount of energy at each trophic level as well as the energy lost
during each trophic level transfer.
As a result, the pyramid is always upward, with a large energy base at its base.
Examples
Let's say a deer eats a plant that contains 100 calories of food energy. Only 10 calories are
stored as food energy since the deer utilises some of it for its own metabolism. A lion that eats a
deer receives much less energy.As a result, useful energy reduces as it passes from the sun to
the producer to the herbivore to the carnivore. As a result, the energy pyramid will remain
upright at all times.

Characteristics of Pyramid of Energy

The way energy pyramids are built is determined by the rate at which food material (in the form
of energy) moves through the food chain.
Although some of the species have lower biomass, the total energy they use and pass on is
significantly higher than that of creatures with higher biomass.
Energy pyramids are typically slanted because less energy is transmitted from each trophic
level than is put into them.

The initial quantity of energy goes on decreasing at every level of energy exchange. Similarly,
the number of organisms also decreases from the lowest level to the highest level. This pattern
of energy exchange in an ecosystem is called a Pyramid of Energy.
After the death of apex consumers their energy becomes available to the decomposers.
Energy is passed on from one trophic level to the next. Decomposers dissipate some amount of
energy in the form of heat. However, no part of the energy ever returns to the Sun. Hence, such
passage of energy is referred to as ‘one way’ transport. Pg 83

Explain the following with suitable examples.

What types of changes occur in the amt of energy during its transfer from plants to apex
consumers?
a. Answer:
Plants of the ecosystem store some of the solar energy in the form of food.
Before reaching the decomposers, this energy is passed on from one trophic level to the next.
At every trophic level, some amount of energy is used by the organism for its own life processes
and some amount of energy is lost to the surroundings.
Decomposers dissipate some amount of energy in the form of heat.
However, no part of the energy ever returns to the Sun. Hence, such passage of energy is
referred to as ‘one way’ transport.
Therefore, energy is maximum at the base of the pyramid and is least at the apex, e.g.
phytoplanktons which form the base of the pyramid have 10,000 kcal of energy while humans at
the apex have 10 kcal of energy.

b. What are the differences between flow of matter and of energy in an ecosystem? Why?
Answer:
Bio geo chemical cycle
What is biosphere
The biosphere, which includes the ground, water and the air, is characterized as the region of
the planet where organisms live. The biosphere is defined as the region on, above, and below
the Earth’s surface where life exists.
Geological components - composition, structure, physical properties, and history of Earth's
components- rock, sediment, soil, rivers, and natural resources.
Chemical sources- O2, Co2, N2, S, Phosphorus.

Energy flows, but matter is recycled.

What is meant by bio geo chemical cycle?

Energy flows directionally through Earth’s ecosystems, typically entering in the form of sunlight
and exiting in the form of heat. However, the chemical components that make up living
organisms are different: they get recycled.
What does that mean? For one thing, the atoms in your body are not brand new. Instead,
they've been cycling through the biosphere for a long, long time, and they've been part of many
organisms and nonliving compounds along the way.

In this image, the flow of energy

is shown with yellow and red
arrows. Yellow indicates usable
energy and red indicates energy
lost in the unusable form of heat.
Green arrows show the continual
recycling of chemical nutrients

The term biogeochemical is

derived from “bio” meaning
biosphere, “geo” meaning the geological components and “chemical” meaning the elements that
move through a cycle.
The matter on Earth is conserved and present in the form of atoms. Since matter can neither be
created nor destroyed, it is recycled in the earth’s system in various forms.

The earth obtains energy from the sun which is radiated back as heat, rest all other elements
are present in a closed system. The major elements include:
Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, Sulphur
These elements are recycled through the biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem. The
atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere are the abiotic components of the ecosystem.

Types of Biogeochemical Cycles

Biogeochemical cycles are basically divided into two types:

Gaseous cycles – Accumulation of abiotic Gaseous nutrient, Includes Carbon dioxide, Oxygen,
Nitrogen, and the Water vapour.
Sedimentary cycles – Accumulation of abiotic nutrients found in soil, sediment and sedimentary
rocks, Includes Iron, Calcium, Sulphur, Phosphorus, etc.
Let us have a look at each of these biogeochemical cycles in brief:

Water Cycle
The water from the different water bodies evaporates, cools, condenses and falls back to the
earth as rain.
This biogeochemical cycle is responsible for maintaining weather conditions. The water in its
various forms interacts with the surroundings and changes the temperature and pressure of the
atmosphere.
There’s another process called Evapotranspiration (i.e. vapour produced from leaves) which
aids this process. It is the evaporation of water from the leaves, soil and water bodies to the
atmosphere which again condenses and falls as rain.

Carbon Cycle
It is one of the biogeochemical cycles in which carbon is exchanged (circulated n recycled)
among the biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and pedosphere.
The circulation of carbon on earth in which atmospheric carbon dioxide is converted to organic
nutrients through photosynthesis and is again converted back to the inorganic state by
respiration, decay, or combustion. The atmosphere, the oceans, vegetation, rocks, and soil
forms the major carbon reserve of our planet.

All green plants use carbon dioxide and sunlight for photosynthesis. Carbon is thus stored in the
plant. The green plants, when dead, are buried into the soil that gets converted into fossil fuels
made from carbon. These fossil fuels, when burnt, release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Also, the animals that consume plants, obtain the carbon stored in the plants. This carbon is
returned to the atmosphere when these animals decompose after death. The carbon also
returns to the environment through cellular respiration by animals.

Huge carbon content in the form of carbon dioxide is produced that is stored in the form of fossil
fuel (coal & oil) and can be extracted for various commercial and non-commercial purposes.
When factories use these fuels, the carbon is again released back in the atmosphere during
combustion.

Nitrogen Cycle
It is the biogeochemical cycle by which nitrogen is converted into several forms and it gets
circulated through the atmosphere and various ecosystems such as terrestrial and marine
ecosystems.

Nitrogen is an essential element of life. The nitrogen in the atmosphere is fixed by the nitrogen-
fixing bacteria present in the root nodules of the leguminous plants and made available to the
soil and plants.
The bacteria present in the roots of the plants convert this nitrogen gas into a usable compound
called ammonia. Ammonia is also supplied to plants in the form of fertilizers. This ammonia is
converted into nitrites and nitrates. The denitrifying bacteria reduce the nitrates into nitrogen and
return it into the atmosphere.

Oxygen Cycle
This biogeochemical cycle moves through the atmosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere.
Oxygen is an abundant element on our Earth. It is found in the elemental form in the
atmosphere to the extent of 21%.

Oxygen is released by the plants during photosynthesis. Humans and other animals inhale the
oxygen exhale carbon dioxide which is again taken up by the plants. They utilise this carbon
dioxide in photosynthesis to produce oxygen, and the cycle continues.
Phosphorous Cycle
In this biogeochemical cycle, phosphorus moves through the hydrosphere, lithosphere and
biosphere. Phosphorus is extracted by the weathering of rocks. Due to rains and erosion
phosphorus is washed away in the soil and water bodies. Plants and animals obtain this
phosphorus through the soil and water and grow. Microorganisms also require phosphorus for
their growth. When the plants and animals die they decompose, and the stored phosphorus is
returned to the soil and water bodies which is again consumed by plants and animals and the
cycle continues.

Sulphur Cycle
This biogeochemical cycle moves through the rocks, water bodies and living systems. Sulphur
is released into the atmosphere by the weathering of rocks and is converted into sulphates.
These sulphates are taken up by the microorganisms and plants and converted into organic
forms. Organic sulphur is consumed by animals through food. When the animals die and
decompose, sulphur is returned to the soil, which is again obtained by the plants and microbes,
and the cycle continues.

Importance of Biogeochemical Cycles

These cycles demonstrate the way in which the energy is used. Through the ecosystem, these
cycles move the essential elements for life to sustain. They are vital as they recycle elements
and store them too, and regulate the vital elements through the physical facets. These cycles
depict the association between living and non-living things in the ecosystems and enable the
continuous survival of ecosystems.