Transfer of

Energy
Connecting Links #2

The Circle of Life

Answer the following questions based on the
video:
o
o
o
o
o

List some living and non-living factors.

What is the relationship between the living and nonliving factors in this environment?
What type of organisms have the highest
population?
What type of organisms are the least populous?
Create a food chain based on the video.

Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IVKeUWW
_Z4

Crash Course
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biolo
gy/crash-course-ecology-2/v/crash-courseecology-07

What is an ecosystem?
Groups of species that interact within a
physical environment
Two different factors:
o
o

Biotic factors
Living things - i.e. Plants, bacteria, animals
Abiotic factors
Non-living things - i.e. The sun, rocks, water

Energy Transfer
All energy is produced by the sun
This energy is not usable by most types of
organisms
How does this energy move through the food
web?

Producers
Autotrophs
o

Create their own food from the energy of the sun

How do they do this?

o

Photosynthesis

Which organisms are producers?

o

Plants, grasses, trees

Consumers
Heterotrophs
o

Cannot create their own food

Must consume other organisms to survive

Energy is obtained by eating producers or
other consumers

Types of Consumers
Herbivores
o

Eat only plant material

Carnivores
o

Eat only animal flesh

Omnivores
o

Eat both plant and animal materials

Consumers (ctd.)
Primary consumers
o

Producers

Secondary consumers
o

Eat producers and primary consumers

Tertiary consumers
o

Will eat anything!

Top carnivores
o
o

Usually tertiary consumers

At the top of the food chain

Decomposers
Also referred to as detritivores
Get their energy from breaking down
decomposing animals
Return the energy to the soil
o

i.e. Bacteria, fungi

Laws of Thermodynamics
1) Energy in a system cannot be created or
destroyed, only converted.
2) When energy is converted to another
source, some energy is lost in that process.

Energy Loss
At each trophic level, 90% of the consumed
energy is lost
Energy is lost by:
o
o
o
o

Heat loss
Breathing
Reproduction
Movement

Trophic Levels (Feeding levels)

Putting into practice

Create a food web based on what you have eaten in the
past 24 hours. Label each food item accordingly. (i.e. Steak
- primary consumer)
Answer the following questions based on your food web
1) Based on what you have eaten today, what trophic level
do you occupy?
2) What type of organism are you?
3) How could you maximize the amount of energy you are
getting from your diet?