1. Energy Flow Through Ecosystems

2. Ecosystem and Energy Roles Ecosystem: all living & non-living things that interact in an environment Energy Role in an Ecosystem  Determined by: How it obtains energy How it interacts with other living organisms in its ecosystem

3. Some Energy Roles The sun: provides energy Producers: harness energy from the sun  ex. plants Consumers: organisms that eat something else  ex. animals Decomposers: return energy to the environment  ex. fungus, bacteria

4. Producers Plants harness energy from the sun through photosynthesis They are the base of every food chain  Source of food for all other animals

5. Consumers 4 Types  Herbivore: eats only plants Ex. Cows, horses  Carnivore: eats only meat Ex. Polar bear  Onmivore: eats plants and animals Ex. Humans, grizzly bears  Scavenger: carnivore that feeds on bodies of dead organisms Ex. Vultures

6. Decomposer Decomposers break down wastes and dead organisms and return the raw materials to the environment  Ex. Bacteria, fungi

7. Energy flow through biological systems

8. Food Chains Food Chain: series of events in which one organism eats another and obtains energy

9. Food Chains Continued Arrows always points in the direction of energy flow 1 st organism is always the producer 2 nd organism is the consumer that eats the producer  Primary consumer 3 rd organism is the consumer that eats the 1 st level consumer  Secondary consumer And so on…..

10. Energy Pyramid 2 nd Law of Thermodynamics: energy is not transferred from one object/organism to the next with 100% efficiency  Some of the energy is lost to the environment Energy Pyramid shows the amounts of energy that moves from one level to the next

11. Sample Energy Pyramid

12. Energy Transfer Only about 10% of energy is transferred from one level to the next The other 90% is used by the organism to carry out its life processes or it is lost to the environment