It is quite interesting to note that the only producer of food in the entire world is PLANT. All others are consumers, and depend only on plants to provide food to all the living organisms and species.

1. By –
N.G.Palit

2. Energy Flow in Ecosystem

3. ENERGY FLOW IN ECOSYSTEM

4. Energy Flow in
Ecosystem
 Begins with Sun.
 Green plants use
water, carbon
dioxide and sun
light to make
glucose, through
the process of
‘Photosynthesis’.

5. Movement of Energy
 The flow of energy is the
most important factor
that controls what kind
of organisms live in an
ecosystem and how
many organisms the
ecosystem can support

6. Primary Energy Source
 Most life on earth depends
on photosynthetic
organisms, which capture
sunlight and convert it into
chemical energy in organic
molecules.
 These organic molecules are
what we call as ‘food.’

7. Photosynthesis
It is the chemical
reaction by which
green plants use
water , carbon
dioxide and light
from Sun to make glucose.

8. Living Things
 All living things
(organisms) need
food (nourishment)
to live.
 Living things in an
ecosystem depend
on each other for
food.

9. Primary Energy Source
* Most organisms in an
ecosystem can be compared
to chemical machines driven
by the energy produced in
photosynthesis.
 Organisms that make glucose
during photosynthesis are called producers.
and include plants, some kinds of bacteria etc.

10. Movement of energy through
Ecosystem
 Producers use most of
the energy they make for
themselves.
 All other organisms in
an ecosystem are consumers.
 Consumers eat plants or other
organisms to obtain their energy.

11. Movement of Energy through
an
Ecosystem
 Energy moves from one
tropic level to the next,
from sunlight -to -
producer- to -primary
consumer and so on,
down the food chain.

12. Food Chain
 The path of energy
through the tropic levels
of an ecosystem is called
a Food Chain.
 Food chain starts with
producers (plants, algae, bacteria) which
use sunlight and convert it to food energy.

13. Food Chain
 The most obvious
aspect of nature is
that the energy must
pass from one living
organism to the other.
 A food chain starts with what gets eaten,
like a fly is eaten by a bird. A food chain
shows which animals eat other animals
or plants.

14. Producers
 Producers use the
energy of the sun
to build energy-rich
carbohydrates.
 Solar energy
provides practically
all energy for Ecosystem.

15. Producers
 Plants are called
‘Producers’, because
they make their own
food inside themselves.
 Producers use cellular
respiration to supply the
energy they need to live.

16. The energy that is
not used by
producers can be
passed on to organisms
that cannot make their
own energy.
Energy transfer from Producer
to Consumer

17. Energy flow in ecosystem

20. Consumers
 Consumers are those
who do not make their
own food, but get it
from eating plants or
other animals.

21. Primary Consumers
 The organisms that
consume producers
are called:-
Primary Consumers
 They are also called
Herbivores (plant eaters)

22. Primary Consumers
 Most of the energy which
primary consumer gets is
from the producers and
is used by the consumer

23. Secondary or second order
consumers
 At the third tropic level
we have secondary
consumers.
 Second order consumers
are animals that eat
other animals.
 These animals are called
‘carnivores’ ( animal eaters)

24. Herbivores
 Consumers that eat
producers to get energy
are the First order or
Primary consumers.
 They are also called
Herbivores. They
survive on plants. Examples:
cows, horses, mice etc

25. Secondary consumers
 Secondary consumers are
those animals that eat
other animals.
 These animals are called
carnivores

26. Secondary Consumers
 Secondary consumer:
may be a ‘carnivore’ or
a ‘herbivore’ .
 May be a ‘predator’
 May be a ‘scavenger’

27. Top Consumer
 Top consumers are not
eaten by any other
consumer.
 They are at the top of
the food chain.
 They can be primary,
secondary or tertiary
consumers.

28. Tertiary Consumers
 Many ecosystems contain a fourth
tropic level made up of carnivores
that consume other carnivores called
tertiary consumers.
 The hawk that eats a snake is a tertiary
consumer unless a larger bird eats the
hawk.

29. Omnivores
 Some animals such as
bears eat both plants
and other animals.
 They are both herbivores
as well as carnivores.
 They are called as
‘Omnivores’. Examples:
human being, bear etc.

31. Detritivores
 Detritivores are organisms that obtain
energy from organic wastes and
dead bodies produced at all the trophic
levels.
 They are the decomposers of the food
chain.

32. Decomposers
 They break down
remains of dead organisms.
 They play very important
role in ecosystem.
 These decomposers
include worms, bacteria,
fungi and some insects.

33. Decomposers
 Decomposition of bodies
and wastes releases
nutrients back into
environment to be recycled
by other organisms.
This helps release trapped energy (in the
form of carbon) in dead organisms back to
the earth.

34. Scavengers
 Consumers that eat other
consumers that have
already died are called
‘Scavengers’ (they clean
the environment)

35. Energy Pyramid Show
 It takes a large number of
producers to support a
small number of primary
consumers.

36. Energy Pyramid show
 Similarly, it takes a
large number of Primary
consumers to support
a small number of
Secondary consumers.

39. Any Question

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