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The higher levels of this scheme are often referred to as an ecological organisation concept, or as the field, hierarchical ecology. Each level in the hierarchy represents an increase in organisational complexity, with each "object" being primarily composed of the previous level's basic unit. [2]
These terms help distinguish between very specific, localized interactions, such as those occurring at the individual or population level, and broader, more complex interactions that occur at the community and ecosystem levels, providing a framework for understanding ecological structure and processes at different scales. [2]
Hierarchy theory is a means of studying ecological systems in which the relationship between all of the components is of great complexity. Hierarchy theory focuses on levels of organization and issues of scale, with a specific focus on the role of the observer in the definition of the system. [1]
A diagram of energy transfer between trophic levels. Primary production occurs in autotrophic organisms of an ecosystem. Photoautotrophs such as vascular plants and algae convert energy from the sun into energy stored as carbon compounds. Photosynthesis is carried out in the chlorophyll of green plants. The energy converted through ...
The levels concept is an intellectual framework for structuring reality. It arranges all entities, structures, and processes in the universe, or in a certain field of study, into a hierarchy, typically based on how complex their organization is. When arranged this way, each entity is three things at the same time: It is made up of parts from ...
Of all the net primary productivity at the producer trophic level, in general only 10% goes to the next level, the primary consumers, then only 10% of that 10% goes on to the next trophic level, and so on up the food pyramid. [1] Ecological efficiency may be anywhere from 5% to 20% depending on how efficient or inefficient that ecosystem is.
The scope of ecology contains a wide array of interacting levels of organization spanning micro-level (e.g., cells) to a planetary scale (e.g., biosphere) phenomena. Ecosystems, for example, contain abiotic resources and interacting life forms (i.e., individual organisms that aggregate into populations which aggregate into distinct ecological ...
A pyramid of biomass shows the relationship between biomass and trophic level by quantifying the biomass present at each trophic level of an ecological community at a particular time. It is a graphical representation of biomass (total amount of living or organic matter in an ecosystem) present in unit area in different trophic levels.