Energy Flow and Nutrient Cycling

By Ms. S.Gerald
 Objectives

 Explain how energy and nutrients flows within ecosystems; (i) Productivity of producers and ecosystems. (ii)
Food chains and webs. (iii) Trophic levels. (iv) Ecological pyramids.
 Energy

 Energy is at the basis of life and the universe.

 Several forms of energy: light, chemical, potential, kinetic, heat, electromagnetic
 Energy is converted from one form to another
 Energy cannot be destroyed.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6mX5uInCds
 What is photosynthesis?

 Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose by using
energy from sunlight absorbed by chlorophyll in chloroplasts.
 Oxygen is produced as a by-product.
 6CO2 + 6H20 + (energy) → C6H12O6 + 6O2
 Carbon dioxide + water + energy from light → glucose+ oxygen.
 Uses of products of photosynthesis

 Oxygen-used in respiration
 Glucose-
 Starch, for storage
 Sucrose for transport
 Other compounds such as proteins and amino acids.
 Lipids
 Respiration

See pg 10 of Study Guide

 Food chains

 A food chain is a diagram showing the flow of food and energy from one organism to the next.
 They include:
 A producer, i.e. a green plant.
 A primary consumer that eats the primary producer.
 A secondary consumer that eats the primary consumer.
 A tertiary consumer that eats the secondary consumer.
 Some food chains may also include a quaternary consumer that eats the tertiary consumer.
 Food chains cont’d

Consumers may also be classified based on what they consume:

 Herbivores consume plants or plant material only, e.g. cows, grasshoppers, snails, slugs, parrot fish, sea
urchins.
 Carnivores consume animals or animal material only, e.g. lizards, toads, spiders, centipedes, eagles,
octopuses, sharks.
 Omnivores consume both plants and animals.
 Trophic Levels

 Trophic level refers to the position or level that the organism provides in a food chain.
 Food Webs

A food web is a diagram which shows the interrelationships between food chains.
1. What is a food chain?
2. Some aphids were observed on the tomato plants in a garden and ladybird beetles were seen feeding on the
aphids. The ladybirds were, in turn, being eaten by dragonflies which were, themselves, being fed on by
toads. Use this information to draw a food chain for the organisms in the garden.
3. From the organisms in item 3 b above, identify:
 a carnivore
 a herbivore
 a producer
 a primary consumer e a secondary consumer
Energy transfer in food chains
When Jared eats a barracuda he only gets about 10% of the energy that the barracuda
obtained from the flying fish it ate. Explain THREE reasons why so little energy is
passed on to Jared.
Biological/Ecological pyramids
The Carbon Cycle
 Outline how carbon is recycled in nature.
The Nitrogen Cycle
 Explain each of the following:
 How nitrates in the soil can be returned to the soil after being absorbed by grass growing in a field.
 How bacteria can remove nitrogen from the air and return it to the air.
 Identify FOUR different types of bacteria responsible for recycling nitrogen in nature