ENERGY IN THE ECOSYSTEM

TOPICS:
1. Energy Flux in Ecosystem
2. Trophic Structure
Objectives:
1. Understand the energy flux in different systems.
2. Identify and differentiate the two major food chains
ENERGY – IS THE ABILITY TO DO WORK.
Two kinds of energy:
1. Kinetic Energy
2. Potential Energy
Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and
temperature, and their relation to energy, radiation, and physical properties of
matter.
LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS
1st Law of Thermodynamics – Conservation of Heat Energy.
 2nd Law of Thermodynamics- Energy Transfer
Respiration
Productivity
• amount of biomass produced in a given area during a period of time

Primary Productivity
• rate at which radiant energy is converted by photosynthesis to organic
compounds
Net primary productivity (NPP) = Gross primary productivity (GPP) –
Respiration (R)
Secondary Productivity
• energy left over from maintenance and respiration goes into
production
UNIT: kilocalories per square meter per year (kcal/m2/yr)
gram per square meter per year (g/m2/yr)
(Cunningham & Cunningham, 2020; Smith & Smith,
Trophic structure is defined as the partitioning of biomass
between trophic levels (subsets of an ecological community that gather
energy and nutrients in similar ways, that is, producers, carnivores).
Trophic Level
 the highest level are big ones which are also called top predators - they eat
the next lower animals, the secondary consumers; they are the Tertiary
consumers.
 Next to the Tertiary consumers are the secondary consumers. These eat the
next animal which are called the primary consumer which feed directly to the
plants and they are also referred to as herbivores (plant-eating organisms). On
the lowest level is the producer which is the plant which can manufacture its
own food through the help of sunlight.
TROPHIC STRUCTURE
Tertiary Consumers
– top carnivores
Primary Consumers
- herbivores
Secondary Consumers
– carnivores
Primary Producers
– autotrophs

Consumers that fed at all levels :

 Scavengers
 Detritivores ,
 decomposers
 Why are there few organisms at the top of the pyramid?

 “We tend to focus our attention on species at the top of the food web but sometimes the most important species
are at or near the bottom of the pyramid”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnAKICtJIA4