MST ENERGY FLOW

**Feeding**

**One of the ways in which energy flows through an Ecosystem is by _______**

Photosynthesis, Ecological Niche, Cellular Respiration, Ecological Pyramids

**Energy Flow In Ecosystems**

**Photosynthesis**

—**The process where the Sun’s energy is converted into chemical energy (Glucose/Sugar).**

Producer

an organism that makes its own energy-rich food compounds using the Sun’s energy

Carbon dioxide + water =sugar + oxygen

Photosynthesis conversion process:

**Cellular Respiration**

**The process where sugar is converted into carbon dioxide, water and energy.**

Sugar + oxygen = CO2 + H2O + energy

**Cellular Respiration**

Consumers

an organism that obtains its energy from consuming other organisms

heterotrophs

another word for consumer.

an organism that eats other plants or animals for energy and nutrients.

autotrophs

another word for producer

Food web

**a network of food chains which are interconnect at various tropic level, so as to form a number of feeding connections amongst different organism of a biotic community.**

Food webs

**the feeding relationships in an ecosystem.**

**Ecological Niches**

The function a species serves in its ecosystem, **including what it eats, what eats it, and how it behaves.**

Scavenger

Organism that **feed on the remains of another organism.**

**Food Chains**

A sequence of organisms each feeding on the next, showing how energy is transferred from one organism to another.

trophic level

of an organism in an ecosystem depends on its feeding position along a food chain.

**Food Webs**

—**A much more accurate display of who eats who**

—A representation of the feeding relationships within a community.

Highly complex

consumers feed on many species

Ecological Pyramids

display relationships between trophic levels in ecosystems

**Energy,** **Biomass, and Numbers**

three types of ecological pyramids

Energy pyramid

Energy loss and transfer between trophic levels; the size of each layer represents the amount of energy available at that trophic level

**10%**

what percentage **of the energy taken in by the individuals at one trophic level is passed on to individuals at the next level.**

Heat energy

**This energy is released as ______and lost to the ecosystem**

Biomass Pyramid

—**Represents the mass (weight) of all the living organisms within that trophic level**

**Numbers Pyramid**

**Represents the number of organisms that make up each trophic level**