Where does energy come from or get into an Ecosystem? Yes! The Sun! How did you know that.... Well, what happens to all that energy that comes from the sun? I know when I'm out in the sun too long I get a sunburn! At the first most basic, trophic level, primary producers (plants, algae, and some bacteria) use solar energy to produce plant material through photosynthesis. ... Decomposers process large amounts of dead, dying plant material and return nutrients to the ecosystem in the form of soil, which are then taken up again by primary producers. So energy from the sun kind of cycles...you know, circles through ecosystems. Living things need nonliving matter as well as energy. What do you think matter is used for? It's used to build bodies. It's also needed to carry out the processes of life. Any nonliving matter that living things need is called a nutrient. Carbon and nitrogen are examples of nutrients. Unlike energy, matter is recycled in ecosystems. Whaaaaaat? Wait! I thought energy circles through an ecosystem and now you said it "doesn't"?
Do you see what happens to energy as it travels from producers to consumers to carnivores and on and on? Heat (energy) goes out. It isn't saved in the system. Some of the sun's energy is used and some of it is lost back out into the environment. Okay, focus for just one more minute! Energy (heat) must flow through an ecosystem for the system to remain stable. What this means is, organisms must eat other organisms. What organisms get the most energy from the sun? PLANTS! There are tons of plants receiving energy from the sun and photosynthesizing so they can grow bigger and then they are eaten. Okay, there are millions of trillions of cows eating grass! All the energy in the grass is getting ground up and digested by the cow! Who gets the energy? The cow. Does the energy stop there? No, some of the energy from the grass makes the cow fat and sassy. The cows are made fat so they can become "steak on a plate". We eat hamburgers, steak, ribs, butt roasts, tri-tips....you know, we eat cows, so we can receive protein to grow our strong bodies... Ooops! Your parents haven't told you that yet? Well, that's the energy and matter cycle. It's all about organisms eating other organisms. When we eat the cow who has fed on all the grass, we don't get all the energy from the sun, only part of it because the cow absorbed most of it. We get some, but not all. So where did that energy go...because it can't be destroyed...yep. It goes back out into the environment, lost so to speak. Nobody gets to use it. We will be learning how to make a food chain and show the transfer of energy through an ecosystem and calculate how much energy is lost in that food chain. It's going to be fun! And sorry, I told you about the cows...pretend I told you about chickens...
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Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |