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Energy Flow through Ecosystems

Energy Flow through Ecosystems. California Standards 6.e. & f. POPULATION OF WATER BUFFALO IN AFRICA. What is Energy ?. Energy is the ability to do work . Therefore, the movement of energy through a system is the movement of “work” through an ecosystem.

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Energy Flow through Ecosystems

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  1. Energy Flow through Ecosystems California Standards 6.e. & f.

  2. POPULATION OF WATER BUFFALO IN AFRICA.

  3. What is Energy? Energy is the ability to do work. Therefore, the movement of energy through a system is the movement of “work” through an ecosystem. Or, how can work or energy, be transferredthrough an ecosystem?

  4. Energy Energy can neither be created or destroyed. One molecule of carbon is the same molecule regardless if it is in a plant or animal. This is also true whether one is talking about carbon, hydrogen, sulfur, nitrogen, potassium, etc.

  5. ENERGY IS TRANSFERRED THROUGH AN ECOSYSTEM AS BIOMASS or living and/or dead material.

  6. THE MORE BIOMASS… THE MORE ENERGY… THEREFORE, LARGER ORGANISMS OR MORE ORGANISMS CAN BE SUPPORTED.

  7. Energy Flow in Ecosystems The flow of energy in an ecosystem controls what type of organisms live in an ecosystem and how many organisms the ecosystem can support.

  8. Organisms in an ecosystem can either be: • 1. Producers which make their own food or energy or • 2. consumers which depend upon producers for their food or energy or • 3. decomposers which consume all other organisms.

  9. Producers Organisms that capture energy from the sun or chemical energy from other sources are called producers. Examples are plants, bacteria and algae. Producers make energy- storing molecules or biomass.

  10. LESS BIOMASS MORE BIOMASS PRODUCERS IN THE ECOSYSTEM

  11. Consumers Most other organisms in an ecosystem, other than producers, are called consumers. Consumers do not make their own food, they get it from other organisms.

  12. Primary Consumer… a cow… can you say “ Got Milk?”

  13. Decomposers In every ecosystem there is a special class of consumers and these are called detritivores. These are organisms which obtain their energy from organic wastes and dead bodies, like fungi or bacteria.

  14. Shelf Fungi Alice in Wonderland?

  15. Can you say… mega mushroom?

  16. Food Chain The path of energy through the trophiclevels of an ecosystem is called a food chain. A trophic level is just simply a graphic organizer based on the organism’s source of energy. Hawk Snake Frog Grasshopper

  17. Food Chain Producers: plants or plankton or algae First trophic level  Plankton

  18. Producers can also be… Grassland Ecosystem.

  19. Second trophic level  Herbivores: cows, mice, and

  20. Carnivores: lions, tigersand bears…OH MY! Or decomposers/detritivores. Third trophic level 

  21. Killer whales are at the top of the consumer food chain and are therefore less abundant, i.e. less biomass.

  22. Lions are at the top of the carnivore food chain therefore they are fewerand thus there is less biomass.

  23. Food Chain Rosebush  aphid  Ladybug beetle  Spider  Toad Q: Which organism can transform light energy into chemical energy? A: Rosebush Q: At what stage will the population be the biggest/smallest?

  24. Food Web

  25. Food Web • A food web is a complicated, interconnected group of food chains. It consists of two or more food chains.

  26. Q: Which organism would have the greatest amount of available energy?

  27. Changes in a food web Q: If a pesticide killed most of the leaf beetles what would happen to this food web?

  28. Primary consumer Secondary consumer Krill Blue whale

  29. Keystone Species • A keystone species is one that if removed will cause major changes on the ecosystem. • This keystone species may not be very abundant yet still affects the entire ecosystem.

  30. Keystone Species Gray wolf as predator. Field mouse as prey.

  31. Keystone Species?

  32. Trophic Levels Ecologists study how energy moves through an ecosystem by assigning organisms in that ecosystem to a specific level called a trophiclevel. A energy pyramid is a graphic organizer based upon the organism’s source of energy

  33. TRANSFER OF ENERGY THE MOVEMENT OF ENERGY FROM ONE TROPHIC LEVEL TO THE NEXT IS VERY INEFFICIENT. ONLY 10 PERCENT OF THE ENERGY OR BIOMASS IS MOVE UP THE FOOD CHAIN. THIS LIMITS THE NUMBER OF TROPHIC LEVELS POSSIBLE.

  34. Energy Pyramid Ecologists often show the flow of energy through an ecosystem by using a block diagram called an Energy Pyramid. This energy can be represented by calories and/or biomass.

  35. Energy pyramid shows the amount of biomass or energy flowing through an ecosystem.

  36. Q:How much energy is available at level C? At level B? Tertiary Consumer Secondary Consumer Primary Consumer Producers

  37. Actual Energy Pyramid

  38. Fennec Fox of North Africa THE END

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