Question

Explain how energy flow is represented in food chains, food webs and pyramids. Explain how changing a factor in an ecosystem (especially involving a keystone species) can impact this flow of energy and the ecosystem as a whole: provide an example of this in your answer.

Vocabulary words that must be used in the explanation: Heterotroph, Autotroph, Producer, Food chain, Consumer, Energy Pyramid, Trophic Level, Food Web, Keystone Species.

Answer 1

Hello, energy first starts as a producers, they have the most potential energy, because as organisms eat other organisms, the waste product will be lost as heat. Producers are autothrophs because they obtain energy from the sun from photosynthesis. We then reach the next stage which is the primary consumers. These consumers are vegetarians and only eat producers, we call consumers heterothrophs. This food chain leads to the teritary consumer who eats and obtains the least amount of energy so, the tetriary consumners like cheetahs have to eat more of secondary consumers to obtain more energy to survive. The trophic levels of these food chains start from producers to quarternary consumers. The keystone species are species who use prominent resources to benefit the whole ecosystem of that certain region. This whole process is what is known as a Energy Pyramid.