The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can be transformed from one state to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed. Taking this into consideration, it can be said that the energy is transferred between levels in a trophic pyramid or organisms in food webs from producers to consumers. The energy is used by organisms to carry out complex tasks. The vast majority of energy that exists in food webs originates from the sun and is converted (transformed) into chemical energy by the process of photosynthesis in plants.
The pyramid an effective model for quantifying energy flow, showing a hierarchy and relative amounts at each level.
Explanation:
An energy pyramid (sometimes called a trophic pyramid or an ecological pyramid) is a graphical representation or model of energy showing the flow of energy at each trophic level in an ecosystem or community. It suggests that for any food chain the primary producer trophic level has the most energy and the top trophic level has the least.
There are four or five key trophic levels in an ecosystem. At the base of the pyramid are the producers, which bring energy from nonliving sources as the sunlight into the community and use photosynthesis or chemosynthesis to make their own food. They are simple plants and Algae comprising the lowest level. Primary consumers or herbivores, make up the second level. Â they eat the producers in most communities. Secondary consumers, tertiary consumers or apex predators at the top of the food chain. The different levels represent the units of energy available within each. Â
The trophic level of an organism is the number of steps it is from the start of the chain.
The higher the organism is on the trophic pyramid, the lower the amount of available energy. Energy flow, heat loss, and the relative amount of biomass occurring at various. The base of the pyramid is composed of specie called autotrophs, the primary producers of the ecosystem. All other organisms in the ecosystem are consumers called heterotrophs, which either directly or indirectly depend on the primary producers for food energy.
Decomposers process large amounts of organic material and return nutrients to the ecosystem in inorganic form, which are then taken up again by primary producers. Energy is not recycled during decomposition, but rather is released, mostly as heat (this is what makes compost piles and fresh garden mulch warm).
Recycled energy — also known as waste heat to power — is the process of recovering the heat that would otherwise dissipate into t.e atmosphere and converting it into electricity with no additional emissions or fuel consumption.
The Sun is the major source of energy for organisms and the ecosystems of which they are a part. Producers, such as plants and algae, use energy from sunlight to make food energy by combining carbon dioxide and water to form organic matter.
The 10% Rule means that when energy is passed in an ecosystem from one trophic level to the next, only ten percent of the energy will be passed on. A trophic level is the position of an organism in a food chain or energy pyramid.
The other 90 percent of the energy is needed by organisms at that trophic level for living, growing, and reproducing.
Energy flow through an Ecosystem. Trophic levels provide a structure for understanding food chains and how energy flows through an ecosystem.
