Energy Transfer in Ecosystems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW7PlTaawfQ
 An ecosystem is…
• All of the biotic and abiotic components of an
area
 Ecosystem
• The amount of energy an ecosystem
receives has an effect on its makeup

• All energy entering the ecosystem from

the sun or other abiotic factors needs to be
converted to be useful to other organisms
 Producers…
• Are autotrophs that convert energy entering the
ecosystem so other organisms can use it
– Ex. Plants, protists, bacteria, algae
• Most use solar energy to do photosynthesis.
• Producers add biomass to an ecosystem
– Biomass is all of the organic material in an ecosystem
available to organisms
All organisms play a role in their ecosystem:
• Consumers (Heterotroph)
– Can’t make its own food
– Gets energy from eating other organisms
1. Herbivores – eats plants
2. Carnivores – eats animals
3. Omnivores – eats plants & animals
• Scavengers – eats dead animals
 Amount of producers will affect the types
of consumers present in the ecosystem
• Consumers are heterotrophs that must eat other
organisms for nutrition

• Consumers are grouped according to their food

consumption:
– Herbivores eat producers
– Carnivores eat other consumers
– Omnivores eat both producers and consumers
– Detritivores eat wastes and parts of dead consumers and
producers. Some detritivores are decomposers
• Decomposers are bacteria and fungi that decay any living material
All organisms play a role in their
ecosystem:
• Decomposers
– Break down waste and dead organisms to
return raw materials to the environment
• Ex: bacteria, fungi, worms
 What kind of consumer?

HERBIVORE
DECOMPOSER

OMNIVORE HERBIVORE CARNIVORE

All ecosystems have energy flow caused
by organisms eating one another
• Energy flows through ecosystems from
producers to consumers
• Energy flow can be diagrammed in many
ways including:
– Ecological Pyramids
• Trophic Level Diagrams
• Energy Pyramids
– Food chains
– Food webs
 Trophic Levels
• Trophic levels
are the levels
of nourishment
in a food chain.
 Trophic Levels
 Producers
Basis of all trophic
levels.
 Primary consumers
herbivores
 Secondary consumers
carnivores that eat
herbivores.
 Tertiary consumers
carnivores that eat
secondary consumers.
 Omnivores
May be listed at different
trophic levels in different
food chains.
Trophic level diagrams
• An organism’s trophic level shows
their position in the sequence of
energy flow
• Producers belong to the 1st trophic
level (are most abundant)
• Herbivores belong to the 2nd
trophic level (also called primary
consumers)
• Predators of herbivores belong to
the 3rd trophic level (also called
secondary consumers)
• Most ecosystems only have 3 or 4
trophic levels
Energy Pyramid
 RULE OF 10
• Energy pyramids show how
much energy is passed from
one trophic level to the next
• On average 10% of all
energy consumed can be
passed on to the next
trophic level, but it can be
as low as 1% or as high as
20%
• Most energy consumed
contributes to maintaining
homeostasis, respiration,
growth, and reproduction
Food Chains
• Food chains are single
pathways of energy
transfer.
• The arrows represent the
way the energy is flowing.
• So the energy is flowing
from the frog to the snake
in this food chain
• Food chains are too simple
to encompass a whole
ecosystems interactions
 Food webs

• Food webs are made of many interacting food chains.

• More accurate than food chains since most organisms feed on
more than one thing and are eaten by more than one thing
• If one part of the food web in lost there can be serious
consequences for the entire ecosystem