Essencial Questions
1. WHAT ROLES DO AUTOTROPHS PLAY IN THE COMMUNITY?
Autotrophs have a very big role in the communities. they are the origin of the energy flow throughout the ecosystem. These organisms do not require consuming of other organisms in order to obtain chemical energy, they can exchange light energy into chemical energy. This is the process of photosynthesis. This is the basic chemical energy that will be passed on to the primary consumers. Then, the secondary consumers will obtain this plant-origin chemical energy by eating the primary consumer. Then it will be passed on to the tertiary consumer, and so on. The higher the organisms are in the food chain, the less directly they will receive energy from autotrophs. However, they still obtained this light energy that had been converted into chemical by the autotrophs, and then passed on through the food chain.
2. WHY IS THERE A LIMIT TO THE NUMBER OF TROPHIC LEVELS IN AN ECOSYSTEM?
There is a limit to the number of trophic levels in an ecosystem because in the last existing trophic levels energy is already very scarce. If there were to be more trophic levels, there wouldn't be any energy left for the organisms belonging to these trophic levels. This is due to the biomagnification of energy, that becomes more scarce with every tropic level. Through each tropihc level, only 10% of the energy is passed on, meaning that the ratio of the energy used by producers and the energy used by organisms from higher trophic levels is very uneven. If there were to be even more trophic levels, the energy passed on to them would be extremely little, not even enough to sustain a whole specie.
3. TO WHAT EXTENT ARE MODELS USEFUL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE REAL WORLD?
Models are a very good representation of the world. They are able to explain a very detailed and extensive concept in just a few words and diagrams that simplify the concept. This is a good strategy to get to know the concept. However, it is important to go beyond the model and experience more "real world" interactions with the concept.
Sources
-Class power points
-Pearson biology textbook
1. WHAT ROLES DO AUTOTROPHS PLAY IN THE COMMUNITY?
Autotrophs have a very big role in the communities. they are the origin of the energy flow throughout the ecosystem. These organisms do not require consuming of other organisms in order to obtain chemical energy, they can exchange light energy into chemical energy. This is the process of photosynthesis. This is the basic chemical energy that will be passed on to the primary consumers. Then, the secondary consumers will obtain this plant-origin chemical energy by eating the primary consumer. Then it will be passed on to the tertiary consumer, and so on. The higher the organisms are in the food chain, the less directly they will receive energy from autotrophs. However, they still obtained this light energy that had been converted into chemical by the autotrophs, and then passed on through the food chain.
2. WHY IS THERE A LIMIT TO THE NUMBER OF TROPHIC LEVELS IN AN ECOSYSTEM?
There is a limit to the number of trophic levels in an ecosystem because in the last existing trophic levels energy is already very scarce. If there were to be more trophic levels, there wouldn't be any energy left for the organisms belonging to these trophic levels. This is due to the biomagnification of energy, that becomes more scarce with every tropic level. Through each tropihc level, only 10% of the energy is passed on, meaning that the ratio of the energy used by producers and the energy used by organisms from higher trophic levels is very uneven. If there were to be even more trophic levels, the energy passed on to them would be extremely little, not even enough to sustain a whole specie.
3. TO WHAT EXTENT ARE MODELS USEFUL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE REAL WORLD?
Models are a very good representation of the world. They are able to explain a very detailed and extensive concept in just a few words and diagrams that simplify the concept. This is a good strategy to get to know the concept. However, it is important to go beyond the model and experience more "real world" interactions with the concept.
Sources
-Class power points
-Pearson biology textbook