Learning About Food Webs and Energy Pyramids Summary

Our planet is made up of food webs and energy pyramids. These are essential for us and other organisms to live. Most organisms gather energy by consuming what they eat, which in turn leads to the definition of food chains. Food chains form links of trophic levels that show the sequence of who eats who in an ecosystem(Environmental Issues.) Once you put together a group of food chains, you make a food web. Food webs are more complex in showing interactions then food chains(Living in the Environment.) Food webs show scientists how energy move through an ecosystem. As energy goes from one organism to another it is lost each time. This leads us into the energy pyramid. In which our autotrophs(producers)are the base, because they are self eaters. They gather energy from the sun. The next three levels are heterotrophs(primary,secondary, and tertiary consumers), they consume energy by eating other autotrophs or other consumers. When an organism dies it is eaten by detrivores and broken down by decomposers. Since each level loses energy the tertiary level usually has a small supply of remaining energy(Environmental Issues.) Food webs and energy pyramids interact together to show us how everything is connected,as energy flows through the trophic levels in an ecosystem(Living in the Environment.) 

In class we made our own food webs to help us see how complicated the interactions are in food webs. As you can see each producer(the bottom level) connects to all of the above levels. Each level seems to eat everything the other level does, but in reality the higher the level the less energy consumed. 10% of energy is only obtained at each level, which means the remaining is lost as heat. The alligator, eagle, and panther get to eat anything beneath them but they don't get much energy. The scavenger level(decomposers,top level after tertiary) absorb nutrients from dead waste from other animals. This habitat would probably have more producers because they grow faster. 

Biomes are the worlds major communities, distinguished by climate, animals, and plants.Most scientists say there are five biomes:aquatic, desert, forest, grassland, and tundra(Environmental Issues.) These biomes are divided into habitats which is a place where an organism lives. My food web fits into the forest habitat the best. These animals can fit into the three forests of temperate, boreal, and tropical. Each one has different characteristics that the animals can fit into. The animals wouldn't be able to fit anywhere else, because they are too wet, too dry, or too cold. Through this activity, I visually saw how complicated food webs can be and how not every animal lives in the same biome, they are differentiated into different habitats.  

Frey Scientific. Environmental Issues and Solutions Module Curriculum Guide. Nashua, New Hampshire: Frey Scientific, 2013. Print

Miller, Tyler G. and Spoolman Scott E. Living in the Environment (17th Edition). (pp. 63-64) Belmont, California: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.