Food Chains, Food Webs and the Flow of Energy in Ecosystems Essay Example
Food chains, Food Webs and the Flow of Energy in Ecosystems
Introduction An ecosystem can be defined as a more or less self-contained function unit in ecology consisting of all abiotic and biotic interactions in a specific area. Flow of energy within an ecosystem is a one-way process; Photosynthesis utilizes light (solar) energy to yield chemical energy that is passed on to organisms at significantly reduced amounts at each level of nutrition. This ‘inefficiency’ in energy transfer is the principal constrain in the food chain length. Food chains can be identified as the sequence of organisms through which energy flows. Moreover, food chains and food webs-of greater complexity-describe the complicated feeding relationships between the members of a community in an ecosystem and a variety of them exists.
Food web research is an area of extensive research and interest and early research started by Ch. Elton that first introduced the pyramid of numbers. Following research by others further contributed scientists understanding of food web complexity via their work. Most recent research into food webs and food chains, discussed in this essay, deals with the effect of climate change and pollution in aquatic ecosystems.
History of research into food webs
Charles Elton was a pioneer in the concept of food webs, chains and sizes. His organization of species into functional groups; producers, consumers, decomposers described the characteristic pyramidal shape of food webs, with a larger amount of producers (autotrophs) at the bottom and successively smaller amounts of heterotrophs on the following, higher levels (Elton C.S., 1926). The Eltonian pyramid of numbers is the basis in describing all food webs. It is based on this pyramid that Raymond L.Linderman published his work upon examining it in terms of trophic dynamics. Linderman (1942) suggested that the Eltonian pyramid resulted from a successive loss of energy going up trophic levels, which was attributed to
Introduction An ecosystem can be defined as a more or less self-contained function unit in ecology consisting of all abiotic and biotic interactions in a specific area. Flow of energy within an ecosystem is a one-way process; Photosynthesis utilizes light (solar) energy to yield chemical energy that is passed on to organisms at significantly reduced amounts at each level of nutrition. This ‘inefficiency’ in energy transfer is the principal constrain in the food chain length. Food chains can be identified as the sequence of organisms through which energy flows. Moreover, food chains and food webs-of greater complexity-describe the complicated feeding relationships between the members of a community in an ecosystem and a variety of them exists.
Food web research is an area of extensive research and interest and early research started by Ch. Elton that first introduced the pyramid of numbers. Following research by others further contributed scientists understanding of food web complexity via their work. Most recent research into food webs and food chains, discussed in this essay, deals with the effect of climate change and pollution in aquatic ecosystems.
History of research into food webs
Charles Elton was a pioneer in the concept of food webs, chains and sizes. His organization of species into functional groups; producers, consumers, decomposers described the characteristic pyramidal shape of food webs, with a larger amount of producers (autotrophs) at the bottom and successively smaller amounts of heterotrophs on the following, higher levels (Elton C.S., 1926). The Eltonian pyramid of numbers is the basis in describing all food webs. It is based on this pyramid that Raymond L.Linderman published his work upon examining it in terms of trophic dynamics. Linderman (1942) suggested that the Eltonian pyramid resulted from a successive loss of energy going up trophic levels, which was attributed to