How do energy and nutrients flow through an ecosystem? Give an example of a food chain, and food web.

How do energy and nutrients flow through an ecosystem?

The living organisms in any ecosystem are made up of producers, comsumers and decomposers. Energy and nutrients are transferred from producers to consumers to decomposers through feeding.

Producers:

Producers convert energy from the sun or the light energy into chemical energy and store it as food during photosynthesis. Producers are mainly green plants, but algae and certain bacteria that can photosynthesise are also producers. Producers are the onlt organisms that can manufacture or produce complex organic food from inorganic raw materials. Hence, producers either directly or indirectly affect the lives of other organisms because they provide energy and oxygen.

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Consumers:

Consumers obtain their energy by feeding on the other organisms. All animals are therefore consumers. Plant-eaters or herbivores feed directly on plants, hence they are known as primary consumers. Meat-eaters or carnivores feed on other animals . Carnivores that feed on herbivores are known as secondary consumers. Carnivores that feed on other carnivores are known as tertiary consumers.

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Decomposers:

Decomposers obtain energy by breaking down lead organisms, faeces and excretory products. When dead organisms and waste materials locked up in them are released. These materials, such as inorganic nutrients, carbon and nitrogen compounds, return to the physical environment and are used again by green plants. Fungi, bacteria and earthworms are examples of decomposers.

Food chains:

We can represent the feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem using food chains. A food chain is a series of organisms through which energy is transferred in the form of food. Each organism in a food chain feeds on the organism before it and provides food for the organism after it. A food chain always begins with a producer. Remember, producers are the only organisms that can manufacture organic food from inorganic raw materials.

An example would be:

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Food web:

n a community, food chains are interlinked to form a food web. There may be two or more food chains in a food web. Here is an example of a food web:

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