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Energy flow is the flow of energy through living things within an ecosystem. [1] All living organisms can be organized into producers and consumers, and those producers and consumers can further be organized into a food chain. [2] [3] Each of the levels within the food chain is a trophic level. [1]
The pyramid of energy represents how much energy, initially from the sun, is retained or stored in the form of new biomass at each trophic level in an ecosystem. Typically, about 10% of the energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next, thus preventing a large number of trophic levels.
Food plot in Germany. A food plot is a planted area set aside to act as a supplementary food source for wildlife. The term was coined by the U.S. hunting and outdoor industries and food plots are most commonly planted for game species. Food plot crops generally consist of but are not limited to legumes (clovers, alfalfa, beans, etc.), grains ...
Out of a total of 28,400 terawatt-hours (96.8 × 10 ^ 15 BTU) of energy used in the US in 1999, 10.5% was used in food production, [3] with the percentage accounting for food from both producer and primary consumer trophic levels. In comparing the cultivation of animals versus plants, there is a clear difference in magnitude of energy efficiency.
An example of a topological food web (image courtesy of USDA) [1] The soil food web is the community of organisms living all or part of their lives in the soil. It describes a complex living system in the soil and how it interacts with the environment, plants, and animals. Food webs describe the transfer of energy between species in an ecosystem.
The intermediate levels are filled with omnivores that feed on more than one trophic level and cause energy to flow through several food pathways starting from a basal species. [ 14 ] In the simplest scheme, the first trophic level (level 1) is plants, then herbivores (level 2), and then carnivores (level 3).
The trophic level of an organism is the position it occupies in a food web. Within a food web, a food chain is a succession of organisms that eat other organisms and may, in turn, be eaten themselves. The trophic level of an organism is the number of steps it is from the start of the chain.
Alternative pathways are important for resilience and maintaining energy flows. However, these more complicated alternatives provide less energy flow to upper trophic-level species. "Food-web structure may be similar in different regions, but the individual species that dominate mid-trophic levels vary across polar regions". [122]