Energy Flow

Antonia Stanisclaus
Blossom Philbert
Objectives
3. Energy Flow and Nutrient Cycling
Students should be able to:
3.1. discuss the efficiency of energy transfer between trophic levels;
Revision of the terms: ecosystem, habitat, ecological niche, food chains
and food webs. Emphasize the advantages of the food web.
Ecology
*A branch of Biology which looks at the interactions of communities of
organisms and their environment.

*The study of relationships of living and nonliving factors and their interactions
with each other.

• Living Factors -Biotic

• Non Living Factors- Abiotic

Ecology :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izRvPaAWgyw
Importance of Studying Ecology
Ecology helps us to:
• Understand Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries
• Predict, prevent and remedying pollution
• Identify consequences of environmental intervention e.g Dams,
Diversion of rivers, Deforestation, Changing land use for agriculture
• Rational for Biological conservation
Ecology
Biotic components: Living components within its environment; includes
studying organisms at different levels of organisation
• Individual organisms, populations, communities

Abiotic components: Non living components

• Includes matter and energy
Definitions
Species: group of organisms with similar morphology and physiology which are able to
interbreed successfully producing fertile offspring.

Population: group of organisms of one species in a defined area usually isolated from
other similar groups

Community: any group of organisms belonging to a number of different species

coexisting in the same habitat or area. Interacting through spatial and trophic
relationships.

Ecosystem: a community of organisms and their physical environment interacting as one

self contained ecological unit
Definitions
Biome:is a collection of ecosystems sharing common climatic
conditions, e.g. tundra, desert, tropical rain forest.
Biosphere: is that part of the Earth inhabited by organisms. It is a thin
layer that extends from the upper part of the atmosphere down to the
deepest parts of the oceans which support life – 11 km below sea level
to 10 km above.
From an ecological point of view, the biosphere is the "global
ecosystem", comprising the totality of biodiversity on earth and
performing all manner of biological functions, including photosynthesis,
respiration, decomposition, nitrogen fixation and denitrification.
Biosphere is the ecosphere (the sum of all ecosystems)
intersecting with the physical environment
Definitions
Habitat: the typical environment of a particular organism, population,
community
Ecological niche: role of the organism in the ecosystem and the effect it
has on the ecosystem.
Approaches to Ecology
Ecosystem approach: focuses on exchange of matter and energy between biotic
and abiotic components. It describes the functional relationship organisms and
their environment.

Community approach ( synecology): focused on biotic components, succession

and climax communities.

Population approach(autecology): considers concepts of math, growth rate,

maintenance, decline of species population etc.
• Provide basis for understanding pest and disease outbreaks
• Predicts critical numbers for continuity of a species and conservation
Approaches to Ecology
Habitat approach (spatial): focuses on the environment of the
organism, population, community or ecosystem. Looks at locations
within the same habitat e.g microhabitats – bark of a tree.

Evolutionary or History Approach: focuses on how ecosystems,

communities, habitats change over time. Therefore it gives a good
predictor of the nature of future changes.
• It looks at extinction, distribution of species(species diversity) etc
The Ecosystem
- A self contained system including all living organisms and their
environment interacting with each other
-Can be studied at every level of organization (from puddle to planet) or
time period.
-All components are necessary to have a stable state.
Changes move the system away from this equilibrium which can be
restored by feed back mechanism to bring things back to equilibrium.
Some changes may be permanent and a new equilibrium will have to be
established.
Examples of Ecosystems
 In an ecosystem
ENERGY FLOWS
BIOCHEMICALS RECYCLE
Reading Activity
Pp301-304
Energy vs Biochemicals (Matter)

-Energy flows into the ecosystem from the sun and is trapped as chemical
energy by photoautotrophs(producers) in organic compounds e.g carbohydrates
that they manufacture.
This energy passes through the ecosystem from producer to consumer to
consumer and out of the ecosystem as heat.
N.B Energy is required for all cellular activities.

-Biochemicals e. g carbon, nitrogen, cycles in an ecosystem. These are derived

from the abiotic components of the ecosystem e.g soil, water, air and return via
decomposition by decomposers and detritivores.
Definitions
Producers: organisms that manufacture organic molecules. They are called
Autotrophs- self feeders. E.g plants, algae, phytoplankton in aquatic ecosystems,
blue green bacteria(chemosynthetic bacteria)

Consumers: organisms that eat /feed on other organisms.

Primary consumers are herbivores e.g. grazing animals, zooplankton
Secondary &Tertiary are mostly carnivores or omnivores.
1.Predators: hunt and kill their prey. They get larger in size and
fewer in numbers at successive trophic levels.
2. Carrion feeders: feed on corpses
3. Animal Parasites: parasites get smaller in size and increase
in number at successive trophic levels.
Energy flows in the Ecosystem: Food Chains

Food Chain: A diagram showing the linear sequence of organisms in

which chemical energy passes from one organism to the next (from
producers to consumers)
Energy flows in the Ecosystem: Food Webs
Food Web: diagrammatic representation of interrelationships between food
chains

Benefits:
Shows inter feeding relationships
Shows different feeding relationships at different trophic levels
Shows the important role of decomposers “fungi and bacteria” which are
saprophytic feeders found in the soil. NB. Energy from all organisms flows into
decomposers
Show the role of Detritivores “larger organisms” e. g earthworms that cause
decay.
Definitions
Decomposer: An organism that breaks down dead or undigested
organic matter (DOM) e.g fungi and bacteria. They are Saprotrophs.
Detritivores are larger decomposers; earthworms, woodlice, crabs

Trophic Level: a stage or level in a food chain occupied by a particular

group of organism: producer, primary consumers, secondary consumer,
tertiary consumer
Food Web: Grass lands
Aquatic Food Web
Terrestrial Food Web
Typical Food web in an Ocean or Lake
Detrital Food Chains
Dead remains of animals and plants as well as animal waste are a source
of energy and nutrients. They provide food for decomposers and
detritivores.
In ecosystems there are food chains which have primary production by
decomposers and detrital feeders. These are called a detrital food chains.
In tropical moist forests conditions are moist and warm. Decomposition
rates are rapid.
Detritivores feed on small decomposing fragments (detritus) e.g rag
worms, slugde worms, wood lice, mites, springtails.
Carnivores then feed on these detritivores hence building up a
food chain based on detritus (detrital food chain) which is different from
grazing food chains.
Class Activity
Construct a Food Chain and a food web using organisms listed below.
State form which ecosystem they are from.

Crabapple tree, rabbit, wood mouse, beetle, fox, tree creeper (bird),
caterpillar, sparrow hawk, great tit(bird), decomposers, oak tree, grass,
bluebell(flower)
Food Web
Efficiency of Energy Flow through the
st
Ecosystem –Producers 1 Trophic Level
Not all Energy gets transferred to the next trophic level.
Less than 3% sunlight energy in terrestrial ecosystems is used by green plants for
photosynthesis. Why ?
Energy is lost as heat to the environment
Sunlight may fall on non photosynthetic parts
Sunlight energy may be reflected
Chlorophyll absorbs only certain wavelength of light
Energy is used up in making products in process of photosynthesis
Lets look closer at this Energy Transfer !
40% reflected by cloud dust in the atmosphere
15% trapped as heat in atmosphere in atmosphere(water vapour & Ozone)

45% reaching earth’s surface = 5 x1o6 KJm-2 yr -1

only 22.5% is photosynthetically active range (PAR) visible wavelength
less than 5% is converted to Gross Primary Productivity GPP
20-25% of GPP is lost by plant respiration leaving
Net Primary Productivity NPP about 80 % of GPP

Energy transfer to the next trophic level is about 10 %

Energy Flows in Ecosystems: Primary
Consumers (Herbivores) -2nd Trophic Level
When consumers eat the plants there are also inefficiencies
• Not all parts of the plant are edible or digestible
• Both animals and plants have energy loss from metabolic processes e.g digestion,
respiration, excretion, growth by the consumer.
Net total efficiency from producers to primary consumers is 10%
Net total energy efficiency from consumer to consumer 20%

As energy is passed along a food chain, less and less energy is available for
successive trophic levels.
As a result food chains have no more than 4 or 5 links as not enough energy is
available to support more consumers
Energy Flows in Ecosystems: Consumer to
rd th
consumer 3 , 4 trophic levels
• When animals consume each other energy is also lost as undigested parts are
left behind as waste e.g bones, fur, horn, teeth.
• Energy loss also occurs due to locomotion (finding food, escaping predators)

Net total energy efficiency from consumer to consumer 20%

• Secondary production: the energy remaining in heterotrophs after losses by
egestion, excretion, respiration. This energy is available for production(growth
and repair and reproduction) by heterotrophs irrespective of the trophic level.
Energy Flows in Ecosystems: Definitions
Primary productivity: rate that producers convert light energy into chemical energy. KJm-2 year-1

Gross Primary Productivity (GPP): total quantity of energy converted by plants . 20 -25 % is used
respiration and photorespiration .

Net Primary productivity(NPP): energy remaining as chemical energy after plants have used up
their own energy needs or loss as heat. This energy is available for the next trophic level. ( This
is about 50- 80% of the GPP)

Secondary production :the energy remaining in heterotrophs after losses by egestion,

excretion, respiration. This energy is available for production(growth and repair and
reproduction) by heterotrophs irrespective of the trophic level.
NB p.g 308-309
 Energy Flow in Ecosystems

p308 Biological Science Taylor Green Stout

Energy transfer

Bradfield,
Dodds,Taylor
,2002.
Energy Transfer from Producers to Consumers

Biological Science Taylor Green Stout

Objectives
3.2. discuss the concept of biological pyramids; Including the limitations
of the pyramids of numbers, biomass and energy. Construct pyramids of
energy using quantitative data
Ecological Pyramids
It is a diagrammatic representation of the feeding relationships
between organisms in an ecosystem.
• It shows the quantitative differences between the amounts of living
material stored at each level
• Allows us to easily examine energy transfers and losses.
Ecological Pyramids

Benefits:
- Useful to study different ecosystems
- Useful to study seasonal variation in a particular ecosystem
- Useful to identify changes in an ecosystem

Limitations:
- Ecologist query that all parts of a plant are not photosynthetic therefore not all parts must be considered
as producers but rather plant products e.g seeds, nectar. The trophic level model must be adapted to
accommodate these differences.
-It is difficult to determine trophic level of an organism since it may feed on many different food sources
- Understates the importance of DOM (Dead Organic Matter) which is often omitted. However, as much
has 80% of all energy fixed by producers may not be eaten by consumers but by detritivores and
decomposers
Ecological Pyramids: Pyramid of Numbers
• The number of organisms in a given area are counted and grouped
into their trophic level.
• This is represented as a rectangle drawn proportional to the number
of organisms found
• In an ideal pyramid of numbers a progressive decrease in number of
organisms is observed at each successive level.
 Ecological Pyramid of Numbers
Advantage
Advantage:
• This is a simple
• Easy method for comparing changes in population numbers over different times or seasons.
Disadvantage :
• All organisms are included regardless of their size.
• Numbers can be too great to represent accurately.
• Time consuming
• In temperate forest it may be inverted: small numbers of large trees are the significant
producers in that ecosystem
• Also parasitic food chains may have inverted pyramids (parasites get smaller in size and
increase in number at successive trophic levels)
Pyramid of Numbers
Pyramid of Numbers
Ecological Pyramid of Biomass
• A graphical representation of the dry mass (amount of organic matter)
of the organisms at each trophic level in an ecosystem. Measured in g
m -2 , g m-3
• Biomass = mass of each individual x number of individuals at each trophic
level.
• Its represents chemical energy stored in the organic matter of a trophic level
Pyramid of Biomass
 Pyramid of Biomass
Advantages:
-It overcomes the disadvantages of pyramid of numbers since the number of an
individual organism does not affect the shape of the pyramid; most take the
upright shape.
-It is more accurate than the pyramid of numbers
Disadvantage:
-Laborious and expensive
-May be inverted based on the time of sampling. In Aquatic ecosystem mass of
phytoplankton may be less than zooplanktons since turn over rate (growth, death,
regrowth) of phytoplankton may be higher than the zooplankton.
However if annual averages are used this does not occur. E.g Baleen whales feed on krills and
phytoplankton which reproduce rapidly to support the whales. The total biomass of krills and
phytoplankton is high (billions of tonns per year) since they are quickly replenished when
eaten.
-
Pyramid of Biomass
Disadvantages cont’d
-samples of organisms may be killed in order to measure the mass or
else it is estimated from wet weight
-does not give a measure of productivity (the amount of energy
passed onto successive trophic levels) which can be misleading.
Example: a highly grazed fertile pasture may have a small standing mass
as compared with a less fertile ungrazed pasture
-assumes all organisms of the same weight have the same energy
content (despite the same weight organisms with higher fat
content would have higher energy levels)
Question

p307 Biological Science Taylor Green Stout

Question.

p307 Biological Science Taylor Green Stout

Answer
Pyramid of Energy / Productivity
• Shows the flow of energy at the various trophic levels along the food chain
over time measured in J m-2 yr-1 or kJ m-2 yr-1
• The pyramid shows the amount of energy that is generated, transferred to
other forms(e.g heat) and the amount that is available as food to the next
trophic level during a fixed period of time.
• The size of the rectangles of the pyramid (trophic levels ) is proportional to the
energy acquired from the level below. Therefore a decrease in size at each
level indicates a decrease in energy along the food chain.
• Food chains are usually bottom heavy since only 10% of energy is transferred
Pyramids of Energy /Productivity
Advantages
-Ideal way of representing relationship between organisms
-Takes into account the rate of production opposed to biomass
and numbers
-It overcomes the limitations of the other pyramids
-Inverted pyramids are not obtained
-Solar energy input is added at the base
-It is the most difficult to do yet provides the most accurate
measurements and so most useful
Measured by burning in a calorimeter. Heat given off determine energy
contained or indirectly using biomass.
Pyramid of Energy KJm
-2 year-1
Pyramid of Energy/ Productivity
Pyramids Comparison
Productivity
The rate at which plants convert light energy into chemical energy.
Measured in KJm-2 yr -1
• GPP: total quantity of energy transferred by plants from sunlight into
plant tissue.
• NPP: energy left after plants use for respiration
Question
The light energy absorbed by producers in an ecosystem is 80 000 kJ. The
energy trapped by producers and converted into biomass is 10 000 kJ. The
amount of energy lost as heat by the producers is 45 600 kJ and 20 800 kJ is lost
as detritus. What is the net primary productivity of the producers in kJ?

• 80 000 kJ
• 45 600 kJ
• 20 800 kJ
• 13 600 kJ
Questions
Answer
1. a)Not All of the energy available from grass is taken in by the Arctic
Hare.
• Some parts of the grass are not eaten
• Some parts of the grass are indigestible to the hare so the come out as waste
• Some energy is lost to the environment by the hare for respiration, movement
etc

b)Efficiency of energy transfer : (137/2345) x100=5.8%

Energy Transfer Though Ecosystems
Human activities can increase energy transfer in ecosystems:
-Farming methods like use of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides
• Reduce competition with weeds
• Allow crops to use more energy for growth instead of fighting infection
• Reduces biomass lost from crops since they are not eaten or damaged by pests.
As a result plants grow faster, become larger and increase productivity.
- Fertilisers provide minerals to crops which may be lacking in the environment.
This allows more energy to be used for growth increasing efficiency of energy
conversion.
- Rearing livestock in controlled environments
- Reduces energy loss in maintaining body temperatures
- May increase energy input since feed may be higher in energy than natural food
Energy Transfer Though Ecosystems
• The benefits
• More food, shorter time period often at a lower cost

• Ethical issue
• Conditions of animals pens
• Distress from being out of their natural habitat
• Restriction from being locked up .
Resources
See Bradfield, Dodds, Taylor.,(2002)A2 Level Biology

Ramesar,M.,Jones,M.,Jones,G.,(2013)Biology Unit 2 for CAPE Examinations

Jones ,M., Gregory,J.,(1999) Central concepts in Biology

Harvey,R.,Ferrier,D.,(2011) Lippincott’s Illustrated Reviews:Biochemistry

Taylor, D. G. (2012). Biological Science Third edition. Cambridge University Press.

Slide Presentation Mr. Avin Pierre. Lecturer TAMCC