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    16 Flow of Energy

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    1) The sun provides energy to Earth which plants capture through photosynthesis and convert to organic molecules, making this energy available to animals. 2) Only a small fraction of the sun's energy is captured and most is lost at each trophic level as heat and undigested matter. 3) This loss of energy at each trophic level results in decreasing biomass and population sizes at higher trophic levels and underlies the structure of ecological pyramids.

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    16 Flow of Energy

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    1) The sun provides energy to Earth which plants capture through photosynthesis and convert to organic molecules, making this energy available to animals. 2) Only a small fraction of the sun's energy is captured and most is lost at each trophic level as heat and undigested matter. 3) This loss of energy at each trophic level results in decreasing biomass and population sizes at higher trophic levels and underlies the structure of ecological pyramids.

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    1) The sun provides energy to Earth which plants capture through photosynthesis and convert to organic molecules, making this energy available to animals. 2) Only a small fraction of the sun's energy is captured and most is lost at each trophic level as heat and undigested matter. 3) This loss of energy at each trophic level results in decreasing biomass and population sizes at higher trophic levels and underlies the structure of ecological pyramids.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    93 views2 pages

    16 Flow of Energy

    Uploaded by

    ramloghun veer
    1) The sun provides energy to Earth which plants capture through photosynthesis and convert to organic molecules, making this energy available to animals. 2) Only a small fraction of the sun's energy is captured and most is lost at each trophic level as heat and undigested matter. 3) This loss of energy at each trophic level results in decreasing biomass and population sizes at higher trophic levels and underlies the structure of ecological pyramids.

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    B io Factsheet

    January 1998 Number 16

    Flow of Energy through Ecosystems


    The sun is the ultimate source of energy on earth. The process of nuclear fusion in the sun releases a huge amount of energy which
    reaches the earth in the form of electromagnetic radiation. It is one small part of this electromagnetic radiation - visible light - which
    is trapped by photosynthetic organisms. Such organisms then convert this light energy into organic substances which effectively
    makes solar energy available to the animal kingdom.

    On A-Level syllabuses, there are two frequently-examined key principles: However, organisms do not usually feed on just one type of organism, so
    food webs - interconnected food chains - are more realistic.
    1. The overriding importance of green plants in making energy available
    in the first place. Only about 1-10% of the total energy contained in plants is obtained by
    primary consumers. This is because:
    2. That only a small amount of the total energy received from the sun is
    captured by plants and that the amount of energy available at each 1. Plants use most of the ATP they produce maintaining their own
    trophic level decreases. metabolism.

    Only a small fraction of the total energy which reaches the earth is captured 2. Some parts of the plant may be indigestible and the primary consumer
    by green plants. This is because most of the energy is reflected or absorbed therefore egests, in the form of faeces, non-utilisable energy.
    by the atmosphere. Much of the energy which does penetrate the
    atmosphere does not hit plants. Some of the energy which is intercepted 3. Any consumer does not eat all of any particular plant - roots for
    by plants passes straight through leaves without hitting chloroplasts or is example may be left in the ground and these represent lost energy
    reflected from plants or is of a wavelength which does not excite pigment (Fig 2).
    molecules (see Factsheet 2: Photosynthesis). As a result of these losses,
    less than 1% of the total available energy is captured in photosynthesis. Fig 2. Energy transfer

    The small amount of solar energy which is captured by green plants is


    absorbed by the green pigment chlorophyll. During the process of
    photosynthesis, this solar energy is transformed into chemical energy in
    the form of sugars using carbon dioxide and water. This chemical energy is
    Energy lost
    then available to animals, bacteria and fungi.

    The light energy which is captured by chlorophyll molecules is used to Man


    R Cow R R
    generate ATP. However, the plant uses most of this ATP in maintaining its does not does not
    own metabolism and since all metabolic reactions are inefficient, much eat all of eat all of
    energy is lost as heat. Gross primary production (GPP) is the total the grass the cow.
    amount of energy or organic matter captured or fixed by green plants, but plant
    respiratory losses (in the form of heat) mean that only net primary Grass Cow Man
    production (NPP) is available as the source of energy for animals which
    consume the plants (herbivores). In other words, NPP = GPP - R. In
    consuming plants, herbivores are in effect receiving light energy in the form
    of organic molecules - carbohydrates, fats, proteins etc. and without the Death Death Faeces Death
    process of photosynthesis, the vast majority of the animal kingdom would
    be unable to gain any energy at all.
    Saprophytes
    Green plants therefore represent trophic level 1 and are known as primary
    producers. These are then eaten by primary consumers which use the
    complex organic molecules which make up the body of the plant as their
    energy source. Organisms which feed on primary consumers are termed Similarly, these losses are repeated at every successive trophic level and it
    secondary consumers and those that feed on secondary consumers are is this loss of energy at each stage which results in declining numbers and
    termed tertiary consumers. This is shown diagrammatically in a food biomass of organisms at each trophic level. In other words, it is the loss of
    chain (Fig 1). energy at each stage which gives rise to pyramids of numbers and pyramids
    of biomass. All consumers are, however, entirely dependent on the green
    Fig 1. Food Chain plants for their source of energy. Primary consumers are directly dependent
    and secondary and tertiary consumers are indirectly dependent on this
    initial capture of light energy.
    Spruce tree Bark Beetle Chaffinch Sparrowhawk
    Primary Primary Secondary Tertiary The energy contained in dead organisms or in faeces is utilised by organisms
    Producer Consumer Consumer Consumer which make up a saprophytic food chain. Saprophytic organisms - which
    feed on dead organic material - often use extra-cellular digestion, that is,

    1
    Flow of Energy through Ecosystems Bio Factsheet

    they secrete enzymes onto the food material and then attempt to reabsorb
    some of the products of digestion. Inevitably, some of the products of Limitations of ecological models
    digestion - sugars and amino acids in solution, etc. - penetrate into the soil Food chains, food webs, pyramids of number, biomass and energy
    and may undergo further chemical transformation. Such nutrients may can be thought of as ecological models. Their limitations, summarised
    then become available for absorption by plant roots. Over a much longer below, frequently appear on examination questions.
    time period however, the remains of dead plants and animals may
    accumulate, become compacted and eventually be transformed into fossil Food chains - Organisms do not usually feed on just one type of
    fuels; coal, oil and natural gas represent the fossilised remains of dead organism.
    organisms and act as a long-term store of solar energy. During the 20th
    century, humans have spectacularly increased their extraction and Food web - A series of interconnected food chains. More realistic but
    combustion of such resources. Development of countries is inextricably don’t quantify the relative contribution of food sources. This is often
    linked to their increasing energy consumption. tested in food web questions:

    Implications of energy flow carnivorous insects


    Loss of energy at each stage of a food chain - through respiration of the
    preceding organism, through faeces and through not all of the preceding beetles caterpillars aphids
    organism being eaten, has important implications for humans in terms of
    food production systems. Quite simply, the longer the food chain, the oak bark oak fruits oak leaves
    more energy will be lost. So in terms of energy capture, it is more efficient
    for humans to try to obtain their energy requirements by eating plants than Q. Suggest how the population of beetles might be affected if the
    it is by eating animals. This is despite the fact that carnivores such as caterpillar population died out.
    humans have a greater assimilation efficiency when consuming meat than
    when consuming vegetable matter (generally speaking, the closer the A. If caterpillars were a major dietary component of carnivorous insects
    similarity between the tissues of the consumer and the tissues of the food then the number of beetles and/or aphids eaten might significantly
    it eats, the higher the assimilation efficiency). Secondly, it is important to increase. However, if caterpillars were only a minor component of the
    appreciate that our food production systems based upon meat are heavily insects' diet then the number of beetles and/or aphids eaten might not
    energy-subsidised - pesticides and fertilisers are made using fossil fuels alter very much. We cannot be sure because the food web does not tell
    and mechanisation requires similarly large inputs of fossil fuels. Since us the relative importance of each part of the carnivorous insects’ diet
    these are finite, i.e. they will run out, it is important that we do not become or anything about their feeding preferences.
    dependent on forms of food production which require a net energy input.
    Pyramids of numbers - Do not take into account the relative size of
    producers and consumers - one tree can support thousands of
    caterpillars, for example, so the pyramid is often inverted.
    Practice questions
    Pyramids of biomass - Overcome the problem of body size but do
    1. The diagram below shows part of a food web in an oak woodland. not take into account productivity. Consequently, they sometimes
    present a misleading picture. In exams, the most common example is
    an inverted pyramid of biomass for the English Channel.
    owl hawk

    zooplankton
    woodmouse chaffinch shrew

    phytoplankton
    spiders Despite appearances, the biomass of zooplankton are not being
    supported in any sustainable way by a smaller biomass of
    phytoplankton - the pyramid does not show the productivity of the
    beetles caterpillars slugs earthworm phytoplankton (i.e. the number of new phytoplankton the
    phytoplankton are producing).
    oak bark live oak leaves dead oak leaves Pyramids of productivity (or energy) - The most difficult to construct
    but always pyramidal! These show the amount of energy at, or the
    (a) Identify: productivity of, each trophic level.
    (i) a detritivorous primary consumer (1 mark)
    (ii) a tertiary consumer (1 mark)
    Answers
    (b) Suggest how this community might be altered if the population of 1. (a) (i) earthworm;
    woodmice died out. (3 marks) (ii) chaffinch / owl / hawk;
    (b) owl / hawk population may decline;
    chaffinch / shrew population may decline because of increased
    predation;
    so less predation of primary consumers;

    Curriculum Press, Unit 305B, The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham. B18 6NF
    Biopress Factsheets may be copied free of charge by teaching staff or students, provided that their school is a registered subscriber. ISSN 1351-5136

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