Flow of Energy Through the Biosphere

Flow , Storage and 'Loss' of Energy Through the Biosphere

Flow of Energy

Flow of energy begins with producers. These producers gain energy through the light entering our atmosphere and of the 51% of light energy that the earths surface absorbs, producers only take in about 1%-2%.

Flow of Energy cont.

Although the absorption of light energy one very common way for producers to gain energy there are also some exceptions such as deep sea organisms that use the splitting of chemicals such as ammonia or hydrogen sulfide to create their energy needed as they don't have access to or need sunlight. This is called chemosynthesis. Even when this occurs the rest of the energy flow continues as normal.

Producers of Another Kind

Following the absorption of light by the producers come the primary, secondary and tertiary consumers which eat each things that comes before it respectively (Ex. rabbit eats plant, fox eats rabbit, bear eats fox). This is a large food chain that supports the flow of energy through the biosphere as each plant or animal has remaining energy that is reused by other animal when the other is eaten. And when, for example, the bear dies, decomposers and scavengers come along and eat any possible 'wasted energy' such as remaining corpses, fecal matter, etc. as this is all still holds energy also.

Storage of Energy

Energy is stored in each plant and or animal in the part of a food chain. When a producer such as a plant absorbs the light energy is commonly uses between 80%-95% of the energy up in its own processes and the remaining energy is transferred onto the animal that eats it. This rule of energy commonly called the '10 per cent law' (as usually around 90% of the energy is used up and 10% is transferred on). The '10 per cent law' is used as a standard for each trophic level energy transfer and is very important in the study of energy transfer and storage.

Energy in the Biosphere as a One-way Cycle

By: Mattea Smith

Loss of Energy Due to Heat

This loss of heat is included in the standard 90% of energy used up and not transferred on to the next trophic level. Heat is given off as a byproduct by each energy holder (plant or animal) as it goes through the processes such as photosynthesis and cellular respiration.

The transfer of energy in the biosphere runs as if it is a hierarchy, starting from the smallest (plants, bacteria, etc.) and ending one cycle with the biggest tertiary consumer (large carnivores). Although carnivores may not eat small plants or deep sea bacteria to gain their energy they still heavily rely on them as they start the cycle by relying on either light energy or chemosynthesis. Without these small producers every level after them would begin to decrease drastically in population as no category after producers can take energy from light energy of chemical reactions. this makes the flow of energy in the biosphere a one-way flow as you can't simply change the order of the hierarchy of the food chain or turn it upside down and expect it to work.

Topic Overview

As energy flows through the food chain, although the energy is not destroyed, large portions of it are 'lost' when converted into unusable heat energy as a byproduct of the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration used by the producers, consumers and decomposers. However, all plants and animals still follow the '10 per cent law' as a standard and when used for food energy, transfer 10% of their initial energy onto the animal that consumed them. This transfer of energy shows how each level of the food chain is not only an energy consumer but also an energy storer that supports the continuous one way flow of energy through the biosphere.