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Energy in Ecology. How is energy transferred?. Energy. All ecosystems must transfer energy. Energy flows in ONE DIRECTION Heat Energy (Sun) changes into chemical energy (locked in organisms) When we eat other living things, the energy is passed down to us
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Energy in Ecology How is energy transferred?
Energy • All ecosystems must transfer energy. • Energy flows in ONE DIRECTION • Heat Energy (Sun) changes into chemical energy (locked in organisms) • When we eat other living things, the energy is passed down to us • All energy transfers originate from the SUN
How does energy flow? • Energy flows in one direction. From sun to the producers to the consumers • Producers (plants)= organisms that make their own food to obtain energy • Consumers( animals)= organisms that consume other organism for energy • Heat Energy (sun) is converted to Chemical Energy (food) through energy flow. • Some energy is lost to heat at each transfer
Overall Energy In Ecosystems SUN PRODUCERS CONSUMERS
What are some ways we can see how energy is transferred? • Ecological Food Chains and Webs • Ecological Pyramids • Energy Pyramids • Biomass Pyramids • Numbers Pyramids
Food Chains and Webs • Food Chain: shows the passing of energy from one organism to another (by eating or being eaten) • Food Web: shows more than one transfer of energy (feeding relationship)
Food Chains and Webs • Producers are at the beginning of food chains and webs (photosynthetic organisms) • Herbivores (primary consumers)= organisms that get energy only from plants (grasshopper) • Carnivores (secondary/tertiary consumers)= organisms that feed on other animals (owl) • Omnivore= organism that feeds on both plants and animals • ARROWS INDICATE THE TRANSFER OF ENERGY • The most of the energy is at the producer level. Least is at the top level • Trophic Levels: each step in a food chain or web
Food Chain What are the producers in this chain? What are the secondary consumers? Where is the least energy in this chain? What type of feeding organism is the squid?
Ecological Pyramid • Visually shows the relative amount of energy contained within each trophic level • Most energy is at the producer level and decreases up the pyramid • Shows organized trophic levels 4th 3rd . 2nd 1st trophic level
Biomass Pyramid • Shows the total amount of living tissue within trophic level • Energy Pyramid • shows the relative amount of energy at each trophic level • Average energy transfer form one trophic level to the next is 10% • Pyramid of Numbers • Shows the relative number of organisms at each trophic level • Highest quantity on the bottom lowest on the top
Practice Food Web Summary Activity • Work with the person sitting next to you to use the food chains to create a food web using the pictures. • Follow the instructions on the summary activity to correctly label and answer the questions.
Address the following as well… Name the organism(s) that hold the most energy in the food web Name the organism(s) that has the least energy