BS276 Lecture Notes - Ecological Pyramid, Thermodynamics

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Lesson 9 - trophic levels & the 10% Matter & energy are never created or destroy; they only change forms. Ex. tree dies and the carbon/nitrogen /h2o/phosphorus are returned to the soil and atmosphere. Sun rays (light energy) hit leaves & are converted into glucose (chemical energy) 1st law of thermodynamics: energy is never created or destroyed. When a rabbit eats a leaf, the energy from the leaf (glucose) is transferred to the rabbit & stored as body tissue like fat/muscle. 2nd law of thermodynamics: each time energy is transferred, some of it is lost as heat. Applied to food webs: the amount of usable energy decreases as you move up the food chain (organisms up most of it for movement, development, etc. ) Because available energy decreases with each step up the food chain, a trophic pyramid is used to model how energy moves through an ecosystem.

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