Energy flow in Ecosystem

Energy flow in Ecosystem

Energy flow in Ecosystem: Green plants. are the primary producers, whichproduce energy by using solar energy. Green plants hold solar energy as chemical energy from where it flows as energy or chemical compounds to the herbivorous animals and from the herbivorous animals to carnivorous animal Energy is spent in every step on the way to flow from the producer to the carnivorous animals. Almost all the energy is spent at the time of transfer of energy to the decomposers- from producers, herbivorous and carnivorous animals. This causes no energy to be transferred at the time of nutrient flow to inorganic nutrient storage. Inorganic nutrient materials are again transferred to producers from the nutrient storage. From this, it is understood that in eco-system the nutrient flows in a cyclic order with the eco-system. The energy flow is however, one way and not cyclic.

Decomposition and Transformation of Energy: We know that among thephysiological processes of organisms, excretion is one of them. The animal excrete the nitrogenous waste products from the body through excretion. In this process some energy is spent. Besides this, the living organisms lose energy due to other physiological process. Living organisms come to an end through death and lose energy. This energy is called lost energy. The decomposers get necessary energy from the dead bodies and excretory products of different trophic level. In this way energy is transferred and the food chain remains effective.

Some examples of food chains are given below with which a human being is related in some way and they are the last level of the chain. It is seen that some of these food chains are very small and others are very large.

As for example

Living  organisms  spend  a  lot  of  energy  in  respiration  and  other  biological functions. If the food chain is short, less energy is spent and if it is long then more energy is spent. From this rule it is understood that more the energy is transferred from producers to higher levels less the energy remains.