Question
Explain the flow of energy in the ecosystem
✓
Answer
→ We know that, the food we eat acts as a fuel to provide us energy to do work. Thus the interactions among various components of the environment involves flow of energy from one component of the system to another. As we have studied, the autotrophs capture the energy present in sunlight and convert it into chemical energy. This energy supports all the activities of the living world.
→ From autotrophs, the energy goes to the heterotrophs and decomposers. However, as we studied in the previous chapter on "Sources of Energy", when one form of energy is changed to another, some energy is lost to the environment in forms which cannot be used again. The flow of energy between various components of the environment has been extensively studied. Some of the conclusions are as follows :
→ The green plants in a terrestrial ecosystem capture about $1 \%$ of the energy of sunlight that falls on their leaves and convert it into food energy.
→ When green plants are eaten by primary consumers, a great deal of energy is a lost as heat to the environment, some amount goes into digestion and in doing work and the rest goes towards growth and reproduction. An average of $10 \%$ of the food eaten is turned into its own body and made available for the next level of consumers.
→ Thus we can say that, $10 \%$ can be taken as the average value for the amount of organic matter that is present at each step and reaches the next level of consumers. Little energy is available for the next level of consumers.
→ From the figure, two things become clear Firstly, the flow of energy is unidirectional. The energy that is captured by the autotrophs does not revert back to the solar input and the energy which passes to the herbivores does not come back to autotrophs. As it moves progressively through the various trophic levels it is no longer available to the previous level. Secondly, the energy available at each trophic leyel gets diminished progressively due to loss of energy at each level.
→ From autotrophs, the energy goes to the heterotrophs and decomposers. However, as we studied in the previous chapter on "Sources of Energy", when one form of energy is changed to another, some energy is lost to the environment in forms which cannot be used again. The flow of energy between various components of the environment has been extensively studied. Some of the conclusions are as follows :
→ The green plants in a terrestrial ecosystem capture about $1 \%$ of the energy of sunlight that falls on their leaves and convert it into food energy.
→ When green plants are eaten by primary consumers, a great deal of energy is a lost as heat to the environment, some amount goes into digestion and in doing work and the rest goes towards growth and reproduction. An average of $10 \%$ of the food eaten is turned into its own body and made available for the next level of consumers.
→ Thus we can say that, $10 \%$ can be taken as the average value for the amount of organic matter that is present at each step and reaches the next level of consumers. Little energy is available for the next level of consumers.
→ From the figure, two things become clear Firstly, the flow of energy is unidirectional. The energy that is captured by the autotrophs does not revert back to the solar input and the energy which passes to the herbivores does not come back to autotrophs. As it moves progressively through the various trophic levels it is no longer available to the previous level. Secondly, the energy available at each trophic leyel gets diminished progressively due to loss of energy at each level.
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