All living things need energy. Some living factors, also called biotic factors, get their energy from the sun. Others get their energy by eating other living factors.
And some living things, like decomposers, break down once living things and recycle nutrients. Welcome to MooMooMath and Science and the energy flow in an ecosystem. As a result, energy is always flowing in an ecosystem. This flow of energy can be represented with food chains and food webs.
For most ecosystems the ultimate energy source is the sun. However, there are some organisms that get their energy from reactions involving inorganic chemicals and typically this involves the absence of sunlight. This is called chemosynthesis.
Producers which use photosynthesis or chemosynthesis to create their energy are a major source of energy in any ecosystem. All plants are examples of producers. Consumers like the krill eat the producers. Carbon bonds are broken and energy is released and this energy is transferred from one trophic level to another.
The cod eat the krill and their energy of the krill is passed on to the cod. The seal eats the cod and then the orca eats the seal. As you move from one trophic level to another you lose approximately 90% of the energy.
This is known as the 10% rule. For example, if you start with 10,100 kilocalories and move up trophic levels, by the time you get to the hulk, only one kilocalorie is transferred to the hulk. So where does this energy go?
Most of the energy is lost as heat. The energy flow in an ecosystem follows the laws of thermodynamics. The first law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed in an isolated system.
However, it can be converted from one form to another. The second law states that this energy conservation is never completely efficient and as a result most energy is lost as heat. Thanks for watching and remember kindness multiplies kindness. Be kind to someone today.