Transcript Energy Flows thru Ecosystems

Energy Flows thru Ecosystems
• LIVING THINGS CAPTURE &
RELEASE ENERGY
• MODELS HELP EXPLAIN FEEDING
RELATIONSHIPS
• AVAILABLE ENERGY DECREASES AS
IT MOVES THROUGH AN
ECOSYSTEM.
Living Things Capture &
Release Energy
• Everything you do requires energy. You use
chemical energy (in food) which is released to
environment as heat, as you sweat.
• All living things need energy. Most comes from
Sun originally. First, living things must capture
Sun’s energy and store it in a usable form (food).
• Producers, Consumers and Decomposers all need
energy and transfer it in some way.
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PRODUCERS
Producer: organism that captures energy & stores it in food as
chemical energy.
Producers package energy for other living parts of an
ecosystem.
Most energy enters thru photosynthesis (CO2 + H2O sugar +O2)
Plants are most common producers on land, photosynthetic
bacteria & algae help make food in water.
Chemosynthesis: produce food from chemicals (special
bacteria in deep ocean water volcanic vents)
CONSUMERS
• Consumer: can’t produce
own food, must get it by
eating/consuming other
organisms.
• Primary consumer
(caterpillar) are first link
between producers & other
consumers; Secondary
consumer (bird) eat
primaries; tertiary (cat) eats
secondaries.
• Scavengers are special
consumers (like vulture, that
feeds on dead animals)
DECOMPOSERS
• Decomposer: break down
dead plant & animal matter
into simpler compounds.
• A type of clean-up crew of
an ecosystem.
• Fungi & bacteria break down
dead leaves, roots, branches,
& dead animals into soil
again. A pinch of soil may
have ½ million fungi &
billions of bacteria.
• Decomposers release the last
bit of energy from onceliving matter back into to
environment & recycle
matter at the same time.
HELPFUL FOOD MODELS
• FOOD CHAIN:
• FOOD WEB: Feeding
Feeding relationship
relationship between
between a producer &
many different
single chain of
consumers & producers
consumers in
in an ecosystem.
ecosystem.
• A web can show how one
consumer can play
• 1oCattail2ocaterpilla
several roles in an
r3ofrog4oheron
ecosystem.
• Energy is captured &
released at each link
• If one organism is
in the chain. Arrows
removed from chain or
show flow of energy
web, it may affect many
from organism to
other organisms in the
organism.
ecosystem.
Energy Decreases as Moves Thru Ecosystem
• Energy Pyramid = shows
amount of energy
available at each feeding
level of an ecosystem.
• First level = producers,
2nd level are primary
consumers and so on.
• Usable energy decreases
as it moves from producer
to consumers (gets
smaller, the farther up the
pyramid you go).
• Plants capture Sun’s
Energyinsects eat plant
& use some
energyshrew eats insect
& uses someowl eats
shrew