Secondary producers are

How efficient is this ecosystem? Hmmm. I don't know how to answer that. It's quite pretty, so I'd guess very efficient? Actually, that's not quite what this means. You see, there is a certain amount of energy within all living things, so ecosystems are full of the exchange of energy between various organisms. Now, whenever energy is transferred some is lost, but the less energy lost, the more efficient the ecosystem. Here, how about a little hike through this ecosystem, and you'll see what I mean. All right, so here we are in the jungle. What do we see? Well, just look at all of the signs of life, from plants to insects to birds. When looking at the energy within an ecosystem, we have to start by looking at a few things. First is the biomass, the total potential energy from biological material. All of these plants contain energy, and since this is such a dense jungle, we can guess that the total biomass in this ecosystem is pretty high. From here, we've got to establish the trophic levels. The various levels of a food chain are the trophic levels; these are the steps where energy is actually transferred from one level to another. As energy passes through trophic levels, it goes through two main stages of production. First we start with the primary producers, organisms that create their own energy. The most common example of this is the way that plants create energy from light and carbon dioxide using photosynthesis. In this case, plants are taking an inorganic molecule (ca...

Producers, consumers and decomposers Producers and consumers Feeding relationships show what organisms eat or are eaten by others and through this the levels of organisation in an ecosystem. These can be shown in food chains , which add together to make food webs for a habitat . A simple example of a food chain is: grass → rabbits → foxes Radiation from the sun is the source of energy for living organisms. At the base of almost every food chain is a producer . These are plants or algae, which photosynthesise . This means they convert energy from the sun into glucose during photosynthesis, which produces biomass . It is this which feeds the rest of the food chain. All animals above the producer are called consumers. The first is the primary consumer and the next is the secondary consumer . Animals that hunt and kill others are called predators and those that are hunted and killed are called prey . The top animal in the feeding relationship is called the apex predator. Decomposers Decomposers are bacteria and fungi, which break down dead organisms in a process called decomposition or rotting. They do this by releasing enzymes onto the dead matter and afterwards, consume the broken down substances. They form a vital role in the recycling of matter. When organisms die and decompose plants absorb the broken down nutrients through their roots. Organism How it gets energy Producer Photosynthesis Primary consumer Eat the producers, most are herbivores Herbivores Eat only plants Se...

What is secondary and primary production? Image credit: slideplayer.com Primary production is the production of organic matter from inorganic matter. Secondary production is the production of new organic matter from organic matter. In ecology, primary production is the synthesis of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis, which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through chemosynthesis, which uses the oxidation or reduction of inorganic compounds as its source of energy. Primary production is the production of organic matter from inorganic matter. It is the first step in the transfer of energy from the sun or the inorganic compounds of the earth to the producers, the plants. Secondary production is the production of new organic matter from organic matter. It is the second step in the transfer of energy from the sun or the inorganic compounds of the earth to the consumers, the animals. What is primary and secondary productivity in ecosystem? Primary productivity is the rate at which an ecosystem can produce organic matter from inorganic sources. Secondary productivity is the rate at which an ecosystem can produce organic matter from organic sources. Primary productivity is the rate at which an ecosystem can produce organic matter from inorganic sources. This includes the photosynthetic production of organic compounds from atmospheric CO2 by plants and other photosynthetic or...

Think of the power plant in your town. It turns energy from fuel, such as coal or natural gas, into another form of energy, electricity, that powers your lights and appliances. Now think of the trees on your street. Green plants are the original “power plants.” They capture energy from the sun and combine it with inorganic, or nonliving, materials to make organic molecules. These molecules are the fuel that powers all other living things. This special ability to take power from the sun earns plants (along with certain other organisms, including algae and some bacteria) the title of “producers." How do producers work this magic of storing the energy from sunlight in molecules that other organisms can use? They accomplish this feat with a biochemical reaction called photosynthesis. This process uses the energy of sunlight to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. It then combines the hydrogen with carbon dioxide from the air and minerals from the soil to make glucose (a sugar) and other more complex organic molecules. Plants release oxygen as a by-product of these reactions. Producers are the foundation of every food web in every ecosystem—they occupy what is called the first tropic level of the food web. The second trophic level consists of primary consumers—the herbivores, or animals that eat plants. At the top level are secondary consumers—the carnivores and omnivores who eat the primary consumers. Ultimately, decomposers break down dead organisms, returning vita...

Image Giant African Land Snail Primary consumers, like the Giant African land snail (Achatina fulica), eat primary producers, like the plants the snail eats, taken energy from them. Like the primary producers, the primary consumers are in turn eaten, but by secondary consumers. Photograph by Cyril Ruoso/Minden Pictures Living things need energy to grow, breathe, reproduce, and move. Energy cannot be created from nothing, so it must be transferred through the ecosystem. The primary source of energy for almost every ecosystem on Earth is the sun. Primary producers use energy from the sun to produce their own food in the form of glucose, and then primary producers are eaten by primary consumers who are in turn eaten by secondary consumers, and so on, so that energy flows from one trophic level, or level of the food chain, to the next. The easiest way to demonstrate this energy flow is with a food chain. Each link in the chain represents a new trophic level, and the arrows show energy being passed along the chain. At the bottom of a food chain is always the primary producer. In terrestrial ecosystems most primary producers are plants, and in marine ecosystems, most primary producers are phytoplankton. Both produce most the nutrients and energy needed to support the rest of the food chain in their respective ecosystems. All the biomass generated by primary producers is called gross primary productivity. Net primary productivity is what is left over after the primary producer ha...

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