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 1 st Trophic Level 2 nd Trophic Level 3 rd Trophic Level producers 1 o or 2 o consumer 2 o or 3 o 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. 6CO 2 + 6H Sun C 6 H O 2 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 C 6 H 12 O 6 + 6O 2 6CO 2 + 6H 2 O+ 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.

2 nd 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. Solar energy Waste heat Chemical energy (photosynthesis) Waste heat Waste heat Waste heat Chemical energy (food) Mechanical energy (moving, thinking, living)

Heat ,000 10,000 Usable energy available at each tropic level (in kilocalories) Producers (phytoplankton) Primary consumers (zooplankton) Secondary consumers (perch) Tertiary consumers (human) Decomposers

Only 25% of chemical “E” stored in gasoline is transformed in to motion of the car and 75% is lost as heat!!