How the flow of energy in an ecosystem is linked to the flow of nutrients and describes the types of things that make up an ecosystem?
Energy and nutrients are passed around through the food chain, when one organism eats another organism. Any energy remaining in a dead organism is consumed by decomposers. Nutrients can be cycled through an ecosystem but energy is simply lost over time. Ecosystems contain biotic or living, parts, as well as abiotic factors, or nonliving parts. Biotic factors include plants, animals, and other organisms. Abiotic factors include rocks, temperature, and humidity. Every factor in an ecosystem depends on every other factor, either directly or indirectly.
In the ecosystem, energy comes from the sun. This sunlight is converted into food by plants via photosynthesis, and the scientific term for this is autotroph. Sun energy from then becomes chemical energy in the form of food. Primary consumers of the food chain eat the plants for energy requirements.
Ecosystems contain biotic or living, parts, as well as abiotic factors, or nonliving parts. Biotic factors include plants, animals, and other organisms. Abiotic factors include rocks, temperature, and humidity. Every factor in an ecosystem depends on every other factor, either directly or indirectly. An ecosystem includes all the living things in a given area, interacting with each other, and with their non-living environments. An ecosystem is a community of living things and their non-living environment, and may be as large as a desert or as small as a puddle. An ecosystem must contain producers, consumers, decomposers, and dead and inorganic matter. All ecosystems require energy from an external source this is usually the sun. Energy and nutrients are passed around through the food chain, when one organism eats another organism. Any energy remaining in a dead organism is consumed by decomposers. Nutrients can be cycled through an ecosystem but energy is simply lost over time. Energy is transferred between organisms in food webs from producers to consumers. The energy is used by organisms to carry out complex tasks. The vast majority of energy that exists in food webs originates from the sun and is converted into chemical energy by the process of photosynthesis in plants. The cyclic flow of nutrients within an ecosystem is called as the biogeochemical cycle. A continuous transfer of nutrients which are necessary for the growth of organisms occurs from abiotic to biotic factors and biotic to abiotic factors in an ecosystem. A steady supply of energy is needed by cells for all body functions. Carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids provide this energy. Chemical bonds in molecules of these nutrients contain energy. When the bonds are broken during digestion to form simpler molecules, the energy is released.
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