Biology CHAPTER 18.

Energy Flow & Food Webs

By: Anais, Dylan, James, Lucas, Nicolas

PAGE 372-378
Biology CHAPER 18.1

Contents
Introduction of
01 Ecology 02 Energy Flow

03 Key Definition
04 Energy Losses

Trophic Levels & Efficiency of

05 Pyramids 06 Energy Transfer
Biology CHAPER 18.1

habitat
The place where an
organisms lives
niche
Role of an organism lives in
its life in an ecosystem
ecosystem
Unit containing all of the
organisms and their
environment, interacting
together, in an area, e.g. a
lake.
community
All of the populations of all
the different species in an
ecosystem

INTRODUCTION OF
ECOLOGY
The study of organisms in their environment
 Biology CHAPER 18.1

Energy Flow
• All living organisms need energy.
• The sun is the princple source of energy input to biological systems.

Food Chain Food Web

• A diagram showing the flow of energy from one • Shows the transfer of energy within an ecosystem.
organism to the next, begining with a producer. • Energy is transferred between organisms when one
organism eats another.
Biology CHAPER 18.1

key definitions
• Producers: organism that makes its own organic nutrients
using energy from sunlight (photosynthesis).

• Consumers: organism that gets its energy by feeding on other

organisms.

• Decomposers: organism that gets its energy by eating other

animals.

• Herbivores: gets its energy by eating plants.

• Canivores: gets its energy by eating other animals.

Biology CHAPTER 18.1

Energy Losses in Consumers

• As heat
• To a secondary consumer when if they are eaten
• To decomposers when primary consumer dies/parts are left
uneaten/undigested plants 未来展望二

Energy Losses in Producers

• Heat energy after cell respiration
• To a primary consumer when it eats the producer
• To decomposers when it dies
Biology CHAPTER 18.1

Trophic Levels Pyramids of Biomass

• The position that an organism occupies in a • The areas of the blocks represents the mass of the

food chain/web organisms (instead of numbers)

• total biomass is calculated by multiplying the

Pyramids of Numbers average dry mass by the estimated number of

individuals in the food chain

• Represent the number of organisms counted

for each species at each trophic level in the
Pyramids of Energy
same area at a particular time
• Shows the relative quantity of energy at
• example:
each trophic level
• units for quantity of energy: KJ / square
metre / year
• The top level of an energy pyramid has the
fewest organisms because it has the least
amount of energy
 Biology CHAPTER 18.1

Efficiency of Energy
Transfer
The more you go to the beginning of the food chain,
you will see that they have more energy (this is why our
main food such as wheat, and rice are plants)

The way how the eater digest and release energy from the
food is also very important because the efficiency of energy
alters depending on it.
 Biology CHAPTER 18.1

Challenge
The diagram shows a food chain.

tree -> insect -> blue tit -> hawk

Which statement about a pyramid based on this food chain

is correct?

A Drawn as a pyramid of biomass, the hawk would have the largest bar size.

B D r a w n a s a p y r a m i d o f e n e r g y, t h e t r e e w o u l d h a v e t h e l a r g e s t b a r s i z e .

C D r a w n a s a p y r a m i d o f e n e r g y, t h e t r e e w o u l d h a v e t h e s m a l l e s t b a r s i z e .

D Drawn as a pyramid of numbers, the hawk would have the largest bar size.
Biology CHAPTER 18.1

BY GROUP 1
Thank you