Energy Flow and Nutrient Cycles

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• Energy Flow
  • Food Chains
    • A way to show the direction of energy few from one trophic level to the next in an ecosystem
    • Arrows mean
      • Direction of energy flow
  • Trophic Levels
    • A status which an animal has in a food chain
      • 1. Producer
      • 2. Consumer
        • Primary
          • Zebra
            • Which eat grass
        • Secondary
          • Lion
            • Which eat Zebras who eat grass
        • Tertiary
          • Whales which eat seals which eat small fish
      • 3. Decomposer
        • Break down waste products of dead organisms
          • Known as decomposition
        • Live off the dead remains and waste products of organisms
        • Called saprotrophs
        • For example
          • Bacteria
          • Fungi
          • Flys
          • Maggots
          • Worms
        • Return nutrients back to the soil
  • Food Web
    • A food chain shows one pathway of energy flow
    • Food webs show multiple paths of energy flow
  • Pyramids
    • Energy
      • Shows the amount of energy that can be released
      • The thicker the section, the more energy that can be obtained
    • Numbers
      • Shows the amount of numbers at a trophic level
      • The thicker the section, the larger the number
    • Biomass
      • The total mass of living tissue at a trophic level
      • The thicker the section, the heavier the organism
      • How much mass is required to feed the higher level of the pyramid

• Nutrient Cycles
  • The carbon cycle
    • Carbon dioxide is produced as a waste product of respiration
    • Carbon dioxide is trapped by plants
      • Used in photosynthesis
        • To make sugar
    • Carbon is stored in living organisms
      • Such as proteins
    • Animals get their carbon from eating animals or eating plants
      • Decomposers get their carbon from the dead remains or waste products from animals
        • They then release this back into the atmosphere
    • Carbon is stored is fossil fuels
      • Coal
      • Wood
      • Oil
    • Burnt fuels release carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere
    • Human influence
      • Become unbalanced by humans
      • Human created energy uses fossil fuels which release carbon dioxide into the air
      • Examples
        • Industry
        • Warmth
      • Global Warming
        • Melts glaciers
        • Increase of the rates of evaporation
      • Deforestation
        • Less transpiration occurs due to the removal of trees
        • There is also less water soaked up
          • Increased run off
          • Leaching
          • Areas are both more prone to droughts and flooding
      • Building of dams
        • Stops the natural flow of rivers
        • Increased evaporation 
          • Due to silt preventing storage in soil
          • This can result in droughts downstream
      • Agriculture
        • Irrigation
          • Removes water from its natural source
            • Often causes leaching
          • Water contains salts
            • Plants also contain salts
              • Often, there are salts left in the soil
                • This is known as salination
                  • The soil is then too salty for plants to grow in
        • Nutrients
          • Pollutes water bodies
  • The Oxygen cycle 
    • 1. Plants and animals take in oxygen
      • Respiration
    • 2. Carbon dioxide is released due to respiration
    • 3. Plants use the carbon dioxide for photosynthesis 
    • 4. Plants then release oxygen as a biproduct of photosynthesis
  • The nitrogen cycle
    • How nitrogen can be created
      • Harbour process
        • Using machinery
        • Industrial process is very
          • Cost consuming
          • Resource intensive
      • Nitrates are created by bacteria
        • Nodules
          • Living on the roots of legumes
            • These trap the nitrogen
      • Lightning
        • Provides enough energy for nitrogen to be converted into nitrates
        • Fixation with lightning
    • How it is used
      • Need nitrogen to build protein
      • The nitrates dissolve in water and plants absorb the nit
      • Animals eat plants
    • How it gets back
      • Decomposition
        • Into ammonia
          • Then to nitrites
            • Then to nitrates
              • Denitrifying bacteria can free it into the atmosphere
              • Or it can go back to plant proteins
        • Urea
    • Human influence
      • The use of artificial fertilizers can put too much nitrates into dams and lakes
        • This can lead to the eutrophication of lakes