Dr.

Sunita Nair / IT B

01.08.11

Energy Flow
Lesson Learning Objectives
By the end of the session you will be able to understand the following Energy flow in the ecosystem Food chain Food web Ecological pyramids

Dr. Sunita Nair / IT B

01.08.11

Energy Flow
Energy flow is the movement of energy through an ecosystem, through a series of organisms and back to the external environment. Energy flow through the ecosystem is always UNIDIRECTIONAL.
This is governed by laws of thermodynamics All organisms require energy, for growth, maintenance, reproduction, locomotion, etc. Hence, for all organisms there must be A source of energy A loss of usable energy Types of energy

Heat energy Mechanical energy Chemical energy

Dr. Sunita Nair / IT B 01.08.11

Energy
All life processes require some form of energy Nearly all energy comes from the sun and is harnessed by plants through the process of photosynthesis Most living creatures obtain their energy either by consuming plants, or by eating organisms that eat plants The First Law of Thermodynamics Also called the Law of Conservation of Energy States that matter can neither be created nor

destroyed; the energy needed to do work within an organism cannot be generated from nothing

Organisms must obtain energy from an outside source, such as through the consumption of plant material or other
Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B 01.08.11

The Second Law Thermodynamics In the universe as a whole, the total amount of energy available to do work is declining In other words, the supply of energy to support life is not limitless Transformations of energy always result in some loss or dissipation of energy or In energy exchanges in a closed system, the potential energy of the final state will be less than that of the initial state or Entropy tends to increase (entropy = amount of unavailable energy in a system) or Systems will tend to go from ordered states to disordered states (to maintain order, energy must be added to the system, to compensate for the loss of energy)
Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B 01.08.11

Energy flow
Sun Heat

Producers Producers

Consumers

Decomposers Heat

This pattern of energy flow among different organisms is the TROPHIC STRUCTURE of an ecosystem.
Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B 01.08.11

Energy flow through ecosystem

SUN 90% HEAT 9% 10%
PRODUCERS

0.9%
HERBIVORES

0.09%
CARNIVORES

0.009%

DECOMPOSERS

1%

0.1%

0.01%

It is important to note that only one tenth of energy is received from previous organism. Less energy is available as we move up. Organisms present on the top of pyramid need more food to meet their energy. Dr. Sunita Nair / IT B 01.08.11

ENERGY FLOW
SUN NU NU NU NU

Producers R

Herbivores

Carnivores

TC R

C O M P O

E R S

NU =Energy not utilized R= Respiration

Refer text book for single channel energy flow Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B 01.08.11

Primary productivity
Primary productivity (PP) is the rate at which energy capture by producers. The amount of new biomass (the dry mass of organic material in the organisms, the mass of water is not usually included, since water content is variable and contains no usable energy) of producers, per unit time and space. PP depends on solar radiation, availability of water, nutrients, type of plants, chlorophyll contents etc..

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

 Gross primary production (GPP): the total amount of CO2 that is fixed up by plants in photosynthesis. or total amount of energy captured by the plants Net primary production (NPP): This is the net amount of PP after the cost of plant respiration = GPP Respiration Net primary production is thus the amount of energy stored by the producers and potentially available to consumers and decomposers. Net Ecosystem Productivity (NEP): It is the amount of PP after the cost of respiration by plants, hetertrophs and decomposers, = GPP Respiration ( RP+RH +RD) NEP helps to calculate CO2 balance between various ecosystems.

Dr. Sunita Nair / IT B

01.08.11

FOOD CHAIN
The transfer of food energy from the source in plants (Producers) through a series of organisms (Herbivores to Carnivores to decomposers) with repeated stages of eating and being eaten is known as food chain. A sequence of organism, each of which is served as source of food for the next, is called a food chain. In any food chain energy flows from producers to herbivores to carnivores

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

Types of Food Chain

Grazing Food Chain: Starts from green plants and goes to herbivores to carnivores Example : Grassland & Forest ecosystem (i) Grass Rabbit Fox Tiger (ii) Grass Grasshopper Frog Snake Hawk Detritus Food Chain: Starts from dead organic matter and are taken by their predators Example: Mangrove ecosystem Fallen leaves & dead plants Soil mites Insects Fish

Mapple leaves Mapple leaves

cricket birds hawk or earth worms shrew

owl

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

Food chain

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

Producers Terrestrial food chain A marine food chain

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

Food Web
A food web is a network of crossing, interlinked food chains which include primary producers (e.g., grass) and a variety of consumers (e.g., birds) and decomposers (e.g., bacteria, fungi, insects) or Complex network of many interconnected food chains and feeding relationships; a group of interconnecting food chains Food web - Establishes pathways by which nutrients flow through the ecosystem, eventually returning to the physical environment

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

Energy Flow and Trophic Structure

Trophic structure An Organisms feeding status in an ecosystem can be expressed as its trophic level Organisms that obtain their energy from the same type of source occupy the same trophic level. Each feeding level within an ecosystem represents a trophic level. Organisms at the top trophic level are not eaten by any other organisms. Productivity is highest at the lowest trophic level. Green plants belong to first trophic level, producers. The energy is then utilized by the herbivores which is the second trophic level. Herbivores are in turn eaten by the carnivores, which is the third trophic level.

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

Trophic levels
Trophic level 4 Feeding strategy Secondary carnivore Coopers hawk 3 Carnivore Robin Shrew Owl Grazing food chain Decomposer food chain

Herbivore

Cricket

Earthworm

Autotroph

Maple tree leaves

Dead maple leaves

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

Ecological Pyramids
The graphical representation of amount of energy stored in the bodies of living things is called ecological pyramids

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

 The standing crop, productivity, number of organisms, etc. of an ecosystem can be conveniently depicted using pyramids, where the size of each compartment represents the amount of the item in each trophic level of a food chain. The general representation of a pyramid is as follows

carnivores herbivores producers

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

Types of Ecological Pyramids

Ecological pyramids are of three types Pyramid of numbers Pyramid of energy Pyramid of biomass

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

Pyramid of numbers
A pyramid of numbers indicates the number of individuals in each trophic level. It may be upright or inverted Since the size of individuals may vary widely and may not indicate the productivity of that individual, pyramids of numbers say little or nothing about the amount of energy moving through the ecosystem.

# of carnivores # of herbivores # of producers

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B 01.08.11

C H P

Inverted pyramids
Parasitic food chain shows inverted pyramids of nos.
Parasite, microbes Herbivores, birds Producers, trees

And also pond ecosystem shows inverted pyramid of biomass

Fish Insects Phytoplanktons

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

Pyramid of energy
A diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another A pyramid of energy depicts the energy flow, or productivity, of each trophic level. Due to the Laws of Thermodynamics, each higher level must be smaller than lower levels, due to loss of some energy as heat (via respiration) within each level. carnivores herbivores producers
Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B 01.08.11

 Note that pyramids of energy and yearly biomass production can never be inverted, since this would violate the laws of thermodynamics. Pyramids of standing crop and numbers can be inverted, since the amount of organisms at any one time does not indicate the amount of energy flowing through the system. E.g., consider the amount of food you eat in a year compared to the amount on hand in your pantry.

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11

Pyramid of Biomass
If the biomass produced by a trophic level is summed over a year (or the appropriate complete cycle period), then the pyramid of total biomass produced must resemble the pyramid of energy flow, since biomass can be equated to energy. Yearly biomass production (or energy flow) of: carnivores herbivores producers
Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B 01.08.11

Significance of Food Chain and Food Web

Energy flow and nutrient cycling take place through food chain and food web which is the key factor to sustain life on earth. Help to maintain and regulate population size all types of species . Help to maintain ecological balance Food chain shows a unique property of BIOMAGNIFICATION. Non biodegradable material ( such as pesticides, heavy metals & chemicals etc..) are accumulated in higher trophic levels. Example. Biomagnification of DDT

Dr. Sunita Nair/ IT B

01.08.11