Energy and ecosystems The ultimate source of energy is sunlight, which is converted to chemical energy by photosynthesising organisms and

is then passed as food between other organisms. Producers- green plants : are photosynthetic organisms that manufacture organic substances according to the equation: 6CO2 + 6H20 + light energy = glucose + 6 oxygen Consumers- are organisms that obtain their energy by consuming on other organisms.- animals. Primry consumers (eat producers), secndry organisms (animls that eat primry), tertiary(eat secondary) Secondary and tertiary consumers are usually predators but they could be scavengers or parasites. Decomposers- are funghi and bacteria or in lesser extents detritivores (earthworms) that break down the complex materials in dead producers and consumers into simple components again. In doing so, they release valuable minerals and elements in a form that can absorbed by plants and so contribute to recycling. Food chain- describes a feeding relationship in which producers r eaten by primary which r eaten by secondary who are eaten by secondary. Each stage in the chain is referred to as a trophic level. Food webs- in reality most organisms dont rely upon a single food source and within a single habitat many food chains will be linked together to form a food web. The problem with food webs is their complexity- e.g. in the web an organism might be shown as being eaten by a single thing but in reality it is eaten by much more organisms. The relationships are not fixed but change during weather, age and population size of the organism. Arrows+1= sum of trophic levels About 2% of the suns available energy into organic matter. Most is not converted cuz of reflection back into space by clouds, light mite not fall on chlorophyll molecule. Gross production= total amout of energy that plants in a community convert to organic matter Net production= plants use about 20-30% in respiration, so little is stored. Net production is the rate is at which energy is stored. NET PRODUCTION=GROSS PRODUCTION- RESPIRATORY LOSSES. The low transfer of energy at each stage is the result of : some of the organism is not eaten, some parts are eaten but cant be digested and are lost in the faeces, energy is lost in excretory material, some energy is lost as heat from respiration. The relative inefficiency of energy transfer between trophic levels explains why: 1) Most food chains have no more than 5 trophic levels cuz insufficient energy is available to support a large enough breeding population at trophic levels higher than these. 2) The biomass is less at higher trophic levels 3) The total amount of energy stored is less at each level as one moves up a food chain.

Energy and ecosystems Energy transfer= energy available after transfer/energy available b4 transfer x 100 Pyramids of numba= usually the numba of organisms at lower trophic levels are greater than the numbers at higher levels. This is shown by drawing bars with lengths proportional to the numbers present at each trophic level. Disa- no account is taken of size- 1 tree is treated the same as one aphid Pyramids of biomass- the fresh mass is easy to take but the amount of water makes it undreliable so the dry mass is taken. However with this the organism is killed so a small sample is taken which may not be representative. With pyramids of numba and biomass only the organisms present at a particular time are shownseasonal differences are not apparent

Pyramids of energy- the most accurate rep of energyflow thru a food chain is to measure the energy stored in organisms. Data is collected in a given area for a set period of time. Theresults are more reliable than biomass cuz 1g of fat stores more energy than 1g of carbohydrates.