1. Flow of Energy and Matter.
Flow of Energy and Matter

2. Ecological Pyramids TEKS: Readiness:
12C analyze the flow of matter and energy through trophic levels using various models, including food chains, food webs, and ecological pyramids
Ecological Pyramids

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Ecological Pyramids
Describe what happens to most of the energy an organism consumes:
Answer on your handout
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4. Energy Transferred & Lost
Each time energy is transferred, some is lost making less available at the next feeding level. Organisms use much of their energy to carry out life functions.

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Ecological Pyramids
Only about 10 percent of the energy available within one trophic level is transferred to organisms at the next trophic level.
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6. What happens to energy? An organism uses some the energy for its :
own growth and survival
Cellular processes
Reproduction
90% is lost as heat
Why does the top carnivore eat more than any other organism?

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Ecological Pyramids
Ecological Pyramids
diagram that shows the relative amounts of energy or matter contained within each trophic level in a food chain or food web.
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Ecological Pyramids
Ecologists recognize three different types of ecological pyramids:
energy pyramids
biomass pyramids
pyramids of numbers
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Ecological Pyramids
0.1% Third-level consumers
Energy Pyramid:
Shows the relative amount of energy available at each trophic level.
Only part of the energy that is stored in one trophic level is passed on to the next level.
1% Second-level consumers
10% First-level consumers
Ecological pyramids show the decreasing amounts of energy, living tissue, or number of organisms at successive feeding levels. The pyramid is divided into sections that represent each trophic level. Because each trophic level harvests only about one tenth of the energy from the level below, it can support only about one tenth the amount of living tissue.
100% Producers
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Ecological Pyramids
Biomass Pyramid:
Represents the amount of living organic matter at each trophic level. Typically, the greatest biomass is at the base of the pyramid.
50 grams of human tissue
500 grams of chicken
5000 grams of grass
Ecological pyramids show the decreasing amounts of energy, living tissue, or number of organisms at successive feeding levels. The pyramid is divided into sections that represent each trophic level. Because each trophic level harvests only about one tenth of the energy from the level below, it can support only about one tenth the amount of living tissue.
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Ecological Pyramids
Pyramid of Numbers:
Shows the relative number of individual organisms at each trophic level.
Ecological pyramids show the decreasing amounts of energy, living tissue, or number of organisms at successive feeding levels. The pyramid is divided into sections that represent each trophic level. Because each trophic level harvests only about one tenth of the energy from the level below, it can support only about one tenth the amount of living tissue.
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3–2
In a biomass pyramid, the base of the pyramid represents the mass of
heterotrophs.
primary consumers.
producers.
top level carnivores.
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3–2
The amount of energy represented in each trophic level of consumers in an energy pyramid is about
10% of the level below it.
90% of the level below it.
10% more than the level below it.
90% more than the level below it.
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