Topic 2: Energy

Question 1

ENERGY

• All living organisms require energy to survive. the source of all energy comes from the sun.
• Plants and algae are able to use the suns energy to create food in the form of glucose.
• Organisms that produce their own food are called producers

Answer 1

ENERGY FLOW

• Organisms that do not produce their own food are called consumers.
• Animals that eat plants are called primary consumers (herbivores)
• Animals that eat herbivores are called secondary consumers
• Animals that can eat both plants and animals are called omnivores

Question 2

DECOMPOSERS

• Decomposers breakdown dead material
• This releases nutrients back into the soil for plants to use for growth

Answer 2

TROPHIC LEVELS

• An organisms tropic level is the location it has on the trophic pyramid. Tropic pyramids are specifically related to energy flow
• Producers
• Primary Consumer
• Secondary Consumer
• Tertiary Consumer
• Quadery Consumer
• All energy in a system starts with the producers. There is always a decreasing number of organisms as you move up the levels

Question 3

ENERGY FLOW IN AN ECOSYSTEM

• Begins with the sun
• The sun releases solar energy which can be harnessed by plants
• Plants are only able to harness about 1% of the energy released by the sun.
• UNI-DIRECTIONS, non-cyclic
• Loses 10% of energy at each transfer from one trophic level to another in heat from respiration and inefficiencies in processing
• This limits the number of trophic levels

Answer 3

TROPHIC LEVEL 1
- Producers use most of the energy that they make for themselves in their own life processes (respiration, growth, synthesis reactions, ect.)

Question 4

TROPHIC LEVEL 2

• Th energy that is not used by the producers can be passed onto organisms that cannot make their own energy (consumers)
• Most of the energy the primary consumer gets from the producers is used by the consumer for life processes and Some is lost due to waste (cellulose)

Answer 4

TROPHIC LEVEL 2/3/4

• Some energy in the primary consumer is stored and not lost to the atmosphere or used by the consumer itself
• This energy is available for another consumer (carnivores)
• This process will continue in the fashion up the food chain with energy being lost at each transfer
• 90% of energy is lost at each transfer, therefore only 10% is transferred

Question 5

FOOD CHAIN

- Specific relationships between organisms in a TROPHIC pyramid can be shown in food chains

Answer 5

ENERGY INPUT AND OUTPUT

• For any ecosystem the amount of energy output will always be the same as the total energy input
• Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change forms.