Sunday, January 11, 2009
ECOLOGY homework
???WHY ARE SHORT FOOD CHAINS BETTER???
Short food chains are better as they are more efficient in energy transfer. Since energy is lost at each trophic level, less and less energy is available for the organism at the next level as we go down the food chain. Hence, food chains are generally short, which means more energy is available to the final consumer because less energy is lost to the environment.
???WHAT HAPPENS TO MOST OF THE ENERGY IN THE ECOSYSTEM??
Energy is passed from one trophic level to another by feeding. The flow of energy through the ecosystem is non-cyclic. Some energy is released as heat to the environment as it flows through the ecosystem. This heat energy does not return to the same system/organisms that produced it. Hence, it cannot be recycled in the ecosystem. Dead organisms and waste matter contain trapped chemical energy which is used by decomposers for their needs. The rest of the energy is then lost as heat by the activity of decomposers.
Eventually, all the energy that enters the biotic part of the ecosystem is lost as heat energy.
......................................HEAT ENERGY.............................................
