Energy Flows through Ecosystems

1. Energy Flows through Ecosystems in Food Chains and Food Webs.

2. The chemical energy stored as nutrients in the bodies and wastes of
organisms flows through ecosystems from one trophic (feeding) level to
another.
3. For example, a plant uses solar energy to store chemical energy in a leaf.
4. A caterpillar eats the leaf, a robin eats the caterpillar, and a hawk eats the
robin.
5. Decomposers and detritus feeders consume the wastes and remains of all
members of this and other food chains and return their nutrients to the soil for
reuse by producers.il.com
 Food Chain:
A sequence of organisms, each of which
serves as a source of food or energy for
the next, is called a food chain.

The process of Food Chain is an

example of Law of Mass Conservation

According this law, mass can not be

created nor destroyed. The mass of the

Food Chain 1 earth is conserved.`

Food Chain 2
Food Chain 3
 tropic level-4

tropic level-1 tropic level-2

tropic level-3

(algae, diatoms)

Food Chain 4
 food web
In natural ecosystems, most
consumers feed on more
than one type of organism,
and most organisms are
eaten or decomposed by
more than one type of
consumer. Because of this,
organisms in most
ecosystems form a complex
network of interconnected
food chains called a food
web.
Other examples of Food web:
Other examples of Food web:

Harp seals

Big fishes

Small fishes

Zooplankton

Phytoplankton
1. Food chain determines how chemical energy and nutrients move along
the same pathways from one organism to another through the trophic
levels in an ecosystem, primarily through photosynthesis, feeding, and
decomposition.
2. Every use and transfer of energy by organisms involves a loss of some
degraded high-quality energy to the environment as heat.

Trophic structure – definite arrangement of producer and consumer in

ecosystem and their interaction along with population size.
Each food level in food chain is called as trophic level.
Standing biomass – amount of living matter in each trophic level at a given
time.
Single Channel Energy Flow Model

Figure: Indicating a food chain and arrows show how energy in nutrients flows through various trophic levels.
Unsable Energy Decreases with Each Link in a Food
Chain or Web:
1. Each trophic level in a food chain or web contains a certain amount of
biomass.
2. In a food chain or web, chemical energy stored in biomass is transferred
from one trophic level to another.
3. The energy transfer through food chains and food webs is not very efficient
because, with each transfer, some usable chemical energy is degraded and
lost to the environment as low-quality heat.
4. In other words, as energy flows through ecosystems in food chains and
webs, there is a decrease in the amount of high-quality chemical energy
available to organisms at each succeeding feeding level.
In most cases, too little chemical energy is left after four or five transfers to support
organisms feeding at these high trophic levels. Thus there are far fewer tigers in the world
than there are insects.
Pyramid of energy
Double Channel Energy Flow Model