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Energy - Flow - Diagram

Howard T. Odum conducted early research on energy flow in ecosystems at Silver Springs, Florida in the 1950s. He measured primary productivity and losses from respiration, creating one of the first energy budgets for an ecosystem. The figure shows the energy flows and biomass stores that Odum measured, including algae and plants (producers), various herbivores and carnivores, and decomposers. Dead leaves also enter the system as detritus. Overall, the model supports the first law of thermodynamics as energy is neither created nor destroyed within the ecosystem.

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Ayse Duru Yildirim
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166 views6 pages

Energy - Flow - Diagram

Howard T. Odum conducted early research on energy flow in ecosystems at Silver Springs, Florida in the 1950s. He measured primary productivity and losses from respiration, creating one of the first energy budgets for an ecosystem. The figure shows the energy flows and biomass stores that Odum measured, including algae and plants (producers), various herbivores and carnivores, and decomposers. Dead leaves also enter the system as detritus. Overall, the model supports the first law of thermodynamics as energy is neither created nor destroyed within the ecosystem.

Uploaded by

Ayse Duru Yildirim
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Topic 1.

3 Energy Flow Diagrams Homework


The classical energy flow example

Silver Springs in central Florida is famous among ecologists as the place where Howard T. Odum
researched energy flow in the ecosystem in the 1950s. Odum *1924-2002) was a pioneer ecologist
working on ecological energy. This was the first time an energy budget measurement was attempted
when Odum measured primary productivity and losses by respiration. (Later, near the end of a long and
illustrious career, he and David Scienceman developed the concept of energy (embodied energy) which is
a measure of the quality and type of energy and matter that go into making an organism). The figure
below shows the energy flows and biomass stores measured by Odum at Silver Springs. Many different
versions of this diagram have been produced. This simple community consists of algae and duckweed
(producers); tadpoles, shrimps, and insects larvae (herbivores); water beetles and frogs (first carnivores);
small fish (top consumers); and bacteria, bivalves, and snails (decomposers and detritivores). Dead
leaves also fall into the water and spring water flows out, exporting some detritus.
Questions

1. Why does the width of the energy flow bands become progressively narrower as energy flows
through the ecosystem? It leaves the ecosystem and divides into different areas but overall
energy stays constant. Almost 90% percent of the energy is lost during each step because of
factors such as heat loss, metabolic activities, and so on. Since the energy is lost during the
process each flow band gets narrower because they depend on energy.

2. Suggest an explanation for the limit on the number of trophic levels to four or five at most in a
community. Both energy and biomass decrease as the trophic level increases thus the usable
energy gets very smaller. After the fourth or sometimes fifth trophic level, the usable energy left
is so low that it doesn’t provide enough energy for survival.

3. How is the energy transferred between each trophic level? The first and lowest level contains the
producers, which are usually plants. Then they are consumed by the second-level
organisms—the herbivores, or plant eaters which are the primary consumers. At the third level,
secondary consumers, carnivores, or meat eaters, eat the herbivores; and at the fourth level,
tertiary consumers, carnivores eat the other carnivores, and at the top quaternary consumers
take place.

4. Insolation (light) striking leaves is 1 7000,000 units but only 410.000 are absorbed. What
happens to the unabsorbed light energy? The unabsorbed light energy is either reflected back
or passed through the leaves

5. A further 389, 190 units escape from producers as heat. What is this?

The 389,190 units that escape from producers as heat are the heat lost during metabolic processes, with
the materials that the consumers excrete as waste, or some energy is changed to heat during respiration
and therefore unavailable for consumption.
6. Account (mathematically for the difference between gross and net primary productivity.
20,810 - 8,833 = 11,997

7. Draw a productivity pyramid from the data given.

8. Would it be possible to draw a biomass pyramid from the data given?


It would be possible to draw a biomass pyramid from this data given since the diagram
represents the biomasses of living things.
9. Does the model support the first law of thermodynamics? Show your calculations

The first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be
transferred and we need to do the necessary calculations in order to check if it supports this rule.

We need to check if the sum of absorbed and unabsorbed light gives us the total light energy which is
stated as 1,700,000:

410,000 + 1,290,000= 1,700,000

In addition, we also need to check if the sum of all areas the absorbed light is used gives us the total
amount of the absorbed light which is 410,000

389,190 + 20,810 = 410,000

Since our calculations prove that the sums equal the total amount of light, we can say that the model
supports the first law of thermodynamics.

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