FOOD CHAIN = used to show how matter & energy move through an ecosystem.

FOOD WEB = shows all the possible food chains in an ecosystem

NICHE = all of the ways that the

organism interacts with everything else in the ecosystem-the

role or job of a species in an ecosystem.

HABITAT = place where an organism or population of organisms

live.

Each organism in food chain represents a “feeding” or TROPHIC LEVEL

1st Trophic Level

2nd Trophic Level

3rd Trophic Level

producers

1o or 2o consumer

2o or 3o consumer

decomposers

Producers• Plants, Photosynthetic Protists and Photosynthic

Bacteria• All are Autotrophic = “self” energy• Use Photosynthesis to create all the sugar

(available energy) in an ecosystem/world.• 6CO2 + 6H20 + Sun C6H1206 + 6O2 • Also use cellular respiration to “burn” the sugar

they create

Consumers•Anything that eats producers or other consumers which are animals and some protists.

•All are heterotrophs= “different” energy•All use only Cellular Respiration to turn sugar into usable energy in the form of ATP

• C6H12O6 + 6O2 6CO2 + 6H2O+ ATP (Energy) + Heat

Decomposers

•Anything that eats dead stuff which are fungi, protists and bacteria.

•All are heterotrophs•All use Cellular Respiration to create ATP

Flow of Energy

Thermodynamics is the study of the energy transformations that occur in a system.

•It is the study of the flow of energy through nature.

•Within a system energy cannot be re-used.

Thermal equilibrium = inputs equal outputs over a long period of time.

2nd Law of Thermodynamics•States that every transformation results in a reduction of the FREE ENERGY (useable energy).

•Energy transfers and transformations increase ENTROPY (disorder, randomness or chaos).

•Law of Entropy.

•Energy always tends to go from a more usable (higher quality) form to a less usable (lower quality) form.

•You can’t get something for nothing

•No such thing as a free lunch

Inputs and Outputs

•Any conversion is less than 100% efficient and therefore some energy is lost or wasted.•Usually this energy is lost in the form of HEAT (= random energy of molecular movement). We usually summarize it as respiration.

Solarenergy

Wasteheat

Chemicalenergy

(photosynthesis)

Wasteheat

Wasteheat

Wasteheat

Chemicalenergy(food)

Mechanicalenergy(moving,thinking,

living)

Heat

Heat

Heat

Heat

Heat

10

100

1,000

10,000Usable energy

available ateach tropic level(in kilocalories)

Producers(phytoplankton)

Primaryconsumers

(zooplankton)

Secondaryconsumers

(perch)

Tertiaryconsumers

(human)

Decomposers

Only 25% of chemical “E” stored in gasoline is transformed in to motion of the

car and 75% is lost as heat!!