Energy Flow in Ecosystems
Learning Objectives
Explain how energy flows through ecosystems.
Explain how ecological pyramids help analyze energy flow
through trophic levels.
Pyramid of Energy
Ecological Pyramids
Each step in a food chain or food web is called a trophic
level. Primary producers make up the first trophic level.
Various consumers occupy other levels.
One way to illustrate trophic levels in an ecosystem is with a
model called an ecological pyramid.
Ecological pyramids are models that show the relative
amount of energy or matter contained within each trophic
level in a food chain or food web.
Pyramids of Energy
Theoretically, there is no limit to the number of trophic levels
in a food web, or the number of organisms on each level. But
there's a catch.
Only a small portion of the energy stored in any trophic level
is available to organisms at the next level.
This is because organisms use up much of the energy they
acquire on life processes, such as respiration, movement,
growth, and reproduction.
Most of the remaining energy is released into the
environment as heat a byproduct of these activities.
Pyramids of energy show the relative amount of energy
available at each trophic level of a food chain or food web.
The shape of a pyramid of energy depends on the efficiency
of energy transfer from one trophic level to the next.
On average, about 10 percent of the energy available within
one trophic level is transferred to the next trophic level, For
instance, one tenth of the solar energy captured and stored in
the leaves of grasses ends up stored in the tissues of cows
and other grazers.
One tenth of that energy 10 percent of 10 percent, or 1
percent of the original amount gets stored in the tissues of
humans who eat cows.
Pyramid of Energy Pyramids of energy show the amount of
energy available at each trophic level.
An ecosystem requires a constant supply of energy from
photosynthetic or chemosynthetic producers.
Pyramids of Biomass and Numbers
Pyramids of Biomass and Numbers
The total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level is
called its biomass.
Biomass is usually measured in grams of organic matter per
unit area.
The amount of biomass a given trophic level can support is
determined, in part, by the amount of energy available to the
organisms in that trophic level.
A pyramid of biomass is a model that illustrates the relative
amount of living organic matter in each trophic level of an
ecosystem.
Ecologists interested in the number of organisms at each
trophic level often use a pyramid of numbers.
A pyramid of numbers is a model that shows the relative
number of individual organisms at each trophic level in an
ecosystem.
In most ecosystems, the pyramid of numbers is similar in shape
to the pyramid of biomass.
The numbers of individuals on each level decrease from the
level below it.
To understand this point more clearly, imagine that an
ecologist marked off a large field, and then weighed and
counted every organism in that area.
The result might look something like the pyramid .
Pyramids of Biomass and Numbers With each step to a higher
trophic level, biomass and numbers decrease. The pyramid
shape shows this relationship.
Image long description Diagram of a trophic pyramid showing
the different trophic levels.
The bottom level has the producers, such as grass, plants,
and flowers.
The next level shows the primary consumers, such as the
mice and rabbits.
The next level shows the secondary consumers, such as
snakes.
The top level shows the tertiary consumers, such as the hawk.
In some cases, however, consumers are much smaller in size
and mass than the organisms they feed upon.
Thousands of insects may graze on a single tree, for
example.
In such cases, the normal pyramid of numbers may be turned
upside down, but the pyramid of biomass usually has the
normal orientation.
Even a single tree has a lot more biomass than the insects
that feed on it!
