Question

What do you understand by energy flow in an ecosystem? Explain energy flow through the different trophic levels. Draw a line diagram of a food chain.

Answer 1

Hint: Throw energy only when our life moves. In an ecosystem The different trophic levels depend on the flow of energy and this flow of energy is carried by cycling energy and the nutrients which we obtain from other external sources.

Complete step by step answer:
Energy flow through different trophic levels
- The energy flows from one trophic level to another tropical level, when one organism feeds on the organic molecule of another organism.
- The energy decreases as it moves from one trophic level to others in an ecosystem.
The Tropics level also denotes the feeding position of an organism in a food chain. In a food chain energy is generally passed from lower to a higher trophic level which is represented by an ecological pyramid.

There are mainly four trophic levels:
1) In the first trophic level solar energy is used by primary producers to produce organic food material with the help of the photosynthetic process.
2) In the second trophic level herbivores feed on those plants for their energy. A large amount of energy is used by them for metabolic functions. Metabolic functions like breathing, digestion of food, for the growth of tissues, for maintaining the circulation of blood, and also for maintaining body temperature.
3) In the third trophic level carnivores feed on herbivores for energy which has them to sustain and also helps them to grow. Large predators feed on these carnivorous animals for their energy and represent a higher trophic level than carnivorous animals. This shows that plants and animals linked together through the food chain.
4) Fourth trophic level includes decomposers like bacteria, insects, fungi worms, helps the Indian composition of dead plants and animals, and again returns nutrients to the soil which is again taken by the producer. In this way, the energy cycle goes on.

Note:
- Energy that is produced during composition is usually not recycled but released.
- In a grassland ecosystem different trophic levels are as follows- primary producers are grasses represent the first trophic level, primary consumers are grasshoppers which represent the second trophic level, secondary consumers are frogs which represent the third trophic level, and tertiary consumers like snakes and the final consumer-like Hawk represent the trophic level higher than third trophic level and the final fourth trophic level includes decomposers like fungi.