Energy Flow in Ecosystem - Definition, Meaning, Process, Importance

Edited By Irshad Anwar | Updated on Sep 19, 2024 11:09 AM IST

What Are The Food Chain And Food Web?

A food chain can be described as the series of feeding relationships where one organism is eaten by the other organism in the succeeding line this shows how energy and nutrients flow from one organism in the chain to the next. There is a difference between a food chain and a food web, the latter representing various interconnected food chains with an ecosystem designing the complex relations between diverse species.

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What Are The Food Chain And Food Web?
What Is A Food Chain?
What Is A Food Web?
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Energy Flow in Ecosystem - Definition, Meaning, Process, Importance

These ideas are useful for learning more about the organisation and the dynamics of ecosystems, as they demonstrate how species are connected about their needs and how energy is transferred within different organisms belonging to one or a different tier. The purpose of this article would be to first: explain and define the relationships between food chains and food webs; second: highlight the role and importance of such relations for the overall balance and stability of ecosystems; and third: discuss the role of the mentioned types of ties for productivity of the ecosystems.

What Is A Food Chain?

A food chain, on the other hand, is a straight way that depicts the energy and the nutrient flow in an ecosystem from the consumers to the producers and between the different consumers. It shows the consumption chain of different species of organisms right from the producer organisms to the higher-order consumer organisms.

Trophic Levels Explained

The major components of trophic levels are:

Producers (Autotrophs)

Definition: Plants can manufacture their food by photosynthesis, whereas if they are not plants and perform chemosynthesis, they become the first or primary consumers.
Example: This includes green plants, algae and some bacteria, as they are the ones that contain the photosynthetic pigments.

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Primary Consumers (Herbivores)

Definition: These organisms feed on producers and they are ranked under the second order of consumers i. the secondary consumers on the pyramid of food chains. This has placed them as the first-order consumers in the food chain.
Example: These are cattle deer rabbits.

Secondary Consumers (Carnivores)

Definition: These organisms are found in the subsequent trophic level and are used by the primary consumers of food. This could either be being a purely meat consumer or being both a meat and grain or cereal consumer.
Examples: Frogs: small fish: spiders: and everything that tries to catch its prey with a web.

Tertiary Consumers (Apex Predators)

Definition: These are the ultimate predators which only have a man as their competitor or frankly struggle for survival with other members of the same species. However, it is a mesopredator and has a feeding relationship with the secondary level of the food pyramid; this is very important in maintaining the balance of the ecosystem.
Example: This one is personal for lions, eagles, and sharks.

Examples Of Simple Food Chains

Some examples of simple food chains are:

Terrestrial Food Chain

This includes:

Grassland Ecosystem:

Producer: Grass
Primary Consumer: Grasshopper
Secondary Consumer: Frog
Tertiary Consumer: Snake
Apex Predator: Hawk

Explanation: Grass being a producer level is consumed by grasshoppers at a primary consumer level. Frogs feed on grasshoppers whereas snakes feed on frogs. Last in the food chain, hawks feed on snakes; hawks are the highest predation level of the food chain.

Aquatic Food Chain

Lake Ecosystem:

Producer: Phytoplankton
Primary Consumer: Zooplankton
Secondary Consumer: Small Fish
Tertiary Consumer: Larger Fish
Apex Predator: Pike

Explanation: The primary consumer is phytoplankton (producer) and on this trophic level the zooplankton or primary consumer feeds on phytoplankton. Small fish feed on zooplanktons while the big fish feed on the small fish. Pike is the apex predator that feeds on much larger fish.

Diagram: Linear Food Chain

What Is A Food Web?

A food chain is a simple sequence of feeding tropism within an ecosystem while a food web refers to a group feeding relationship in an ecosystem. While a food chain describes a flow of organisms along which every successive member is the food of the next, a food web depicts more than one food chain. It consists of various organisms and the way they feed, showing the way energy passes through and nutrients are recycled in an ecosystem.

Difference Between Food Chain And Food Web

Food Chain

Defines one line of a series of organisms.
Prescribes a direct transfer mechanism of energy and nutrients from one organism to the other.
Cuts the feeding relationships in an ecosystem by half.

Food Web

Stands for a collection of food chains that are interrelated in some or all their aspects.

Collects data on different species of animals and different relations among them.

Illustrates how feeding relationships and trophic interactions are winding and not always directly in an ecosystem.

Complexity Of Food Webs

Food webs are characterised by their complexity due to: Food webs are characterised by their complexity due to:

Interconnectedness: Several species are involved in predation and/or parasitism, which shows the dependency of one organism on another.
Energy Flow Dynamics: Energy and nutrients circulate in several routes that touch different levels of tropism.
Species Diversity: Murder allows a large grouping of organisms of different trophic levels including the producers and top predators.
Feedback Loops: Referral systems are interwoven scenarios where variations in one population can impact other several populations on the web and, as a result, alter ecosystem characteristics.

Examples Of Food Webs

Some examples of food webs are:

Forest Ecosystem Food Web

In a forest ecosystem, the food web can be represented as follows: In a forest ecosystem, the food web can be represented as follows:

Producers (Primary producers): Trees, shrubs, grasses
Primary Consumers (Herbivores): Deer, rabbits, moth larvae, and other insects.
Secondary Consumers (Carnivores/Omnivores): Depending on the territory foxes, owls, snakes and spiders.
Tertiary Consumers (Top Predators): A wolf and a mountain lion

Interconnections:

Herbivores: They have specific diets that include feeding on leaves as well as grasses.
Carnivores: Foxes feed on rabbits while on the other hand owls feed on small mammals and insects.
Top Predators: Well, wolves eat deer, thus keeping the diseases in check from the herbivores.

Examples of interactions:

Most of the time the caterpillars are seen feeding on the trees’ foliage while the birds feed on the caterpillars.

The foxes and owls do compete for a source they both feed on small mammals.

Marine Ecosystem Food Web

In a marine ecosystem, the food web is more diverse and complex due to the abundance of species and varied habitats: In a marine ecosystem, the food web is more diverse and complex due to the abundance of species and varied habitats:

Producers (Primary producers): They include Phytoplanktons, seaweed and seagrass.
Primary Consumers (Herbivores): Zooplankton, fish fry especially anchovy, shrimp, small and moderate-sized fish, and jellyfish.
Secondary Consumers (Carnivores/Omnivores): Squid, other big fish (e.g.. tuna, sharks)
Tertiary Consumers (Top Predators): Dolphins, seals, large predatory fish (e.g., marlin)

Interconnections:

Herbivores: Thus, zooplanktivities feed at the bottom of the seas on phytoplanktivities, whereas small fishes feed on seaweed and seagrasses.

Carnivores: Zooplanktons are the food item of squids and Tuna and other large fish are found to feed on small fish and squids.

Top Predators: Some of the Primates’ diets include fruits and vegetables, while reptiles feed on insects and small animals, while birds feed on insects and fish and so on thus giving out a balanced diet.

Examples of interactions:

Dolphins or seals may feed on the same sort of prey, probably the small fish species in the sea.

Sharks are other cool examples that function as predators which in turn help in controlling the numbers of other sea creatures.

Diagram: Complex Food Web

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?

A food chain can be defined as a flow chart that only illustrates one flow of energy and nutrients in the ecosystem in the form of consumer producers and decomposers.

The food web is a more refined concept than the food chain and it shows various chains in one ecosystem, the relations of feeding connections.

2. How does energy flow through an ecosystem?

Energy moves unequally and cyclically in that producers which are plants and algae transform solar energy into chemical energy in the form of food.

The energy that is stored in the producers is then transferred through the successive trophic levels in the consumers’ food chain and it can be established by pale ecologists that usually about 10% of the energy escalates to the next trophic level.

Finally, metabolic work is done and energy is dissipated as heat and lost in the process.

Decomposers feed on dead organisms (organisms that have died), fallen trees leaves and other dead things in the ecosystem and convert it to simpler forms of matter which can be easily reused in the ecosystem.

3. What role do decomposers play in the food chain?

They rank just as important as decomposers in the decomposition of organic matter hence releasing nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus back into the soil for use by plants and producers.

Some of the human activities that affect food chains and food webs are deforestation, pollution of water sources, fishing that affects the various food types and habitat destruction.

4. How do human activities affect food chains and food webs?

Such factors include the effect of changing the balance of predation and competition through the introduction of invasive species.

Climate change alters the position of species in a geographical space and also influences the frequencies of biological events such as migration and reproduction.

5. Why are apex predators important in an ecosystem?

Apex predators maintain the numbers of other animals within the environment so that herbivores, for instance, do not overproduce and feed on all the plants.

They assist in regulating the numbers of the prey species and hence play a critical role in shaping the coherent food web.

It means the presence of their population is a sign of the overall ecosystem, predator-prey balance and fully functional trophic level.