The links between energy that carnivores get from eating to the energy captured by photosynthesis?

Question

The links between energy that carnivores get from eating to the energy captured by photosynthesis?

Answer 1

Every step in the food chain gets about 10% of the energy it took to make what it ate.

A plant eater gets only about 10% of the energy in the plant. the rest gets pooped out and becomes food for worms bacteria and fungi.

Same on the next level.

So a meat eater get 1/100 of what was in the plant.

But the plant only got 1/10 of the sun to start with.

Answer 2

Solar energy sustains almost all of the 1.8 million species of living things on our planet; without the sun’s energy, life on Earth would cease.

Solar energy is converted into chemical energy (in the form of sugar) through the process of photosynthesis, which is performed by plants and other photosynthetic organisms (e.g., cyanobacteria).

This is why we call plants and other photosynthetic organisms producers. [A few organisms acquire their energy from geothermal processes on the ocean floor instead of from the sun.]

Different ecosystems produce different amounts of chemical energy (sugar) because they vary in the amount of sunlight, water and nutrients available to the plants, as well as temperature conditions.

Tropical rain forests, for example, are very productive (energy-rich) because these ecosystems get a lot of sunlight, have fairly uniform warm temperatures and receive a great deal of rainfall thus promoting plant growth all year long. In addition, dead matter is rapidly decomposed and nutrients recycled back into the plants.

In contrast, deserts are very unproductive ecosystems because plants receive limited water and nutrients and are growth-restricted.

In addition to producers, ecosystems also house species called herbivores (also called primary consumer) that eat photosynthetic organisms in order to obtain the energy and nutrients that they will need to stay alive.

In turn, carnivores eat herbivores.

Carnivores can also eat one another so an ecosystem may have different levels of carnivores – 1st level, 2nd level, 3rd level or secondary, tertiary or quaternary consumers. In the process, energy that is stored in the bodies of each organism flows along a linear feeding relationship (producers, herbivores and a variety of carnivores) that we call a food chain.

Thus, energy moves in one direction. It is not recycled. At each level much of this energy is lost from the organism's body as heat and with waste matter.

(((((As a general rule of thumb, about 10% (5 - 20% range) of the energy taken in is available for the next feeding (trophic) level. Since higher trophic levels receive progressively less energy there are fewer species at these levels. As a result food chains rarely go beyond 4 - 5 feeding levels.))))))

An Example =

1. A mouse receives energy from the food it eats.

2. The mouse's cells extract the food's energy so it can be used for the mouse's survival needs (e.g., growth, acquiring food, escaping enemies). The process is not 100% efficient and a lot of energy is lost as heat. The mouse can use this heat to help keep its body temperature at a normal level during cold weather.

3. Some of the energy that is in the food is lost in the mouse's waste (f***s).

4. The remaining energy is stored in the mouse's body and is available to the organism that preys on it. About 90% of the energy acquired in the mouse's food is used or lost by the mouse and only 10% is available to predators.

It is the universal rule ; therefore , The energy pyramid is always UPRIGHT !!!

An ecological pyramid is constructed based on one of three types of data acquired from each feeding level - the number of organisms, the amount of biomass or the amount of energy.

Each feeding (trophic) level passes @10% of its stored energy to the next level. Therefore, if the producers had 10,000 units (calories) of available energy, the herbivores would receive 1000 units, the primary carnivores 100 units and the secondary carnivores 10 units.

So it is upright

http://www.freewebs.com/the_grey_pilgrim...

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From = A Botanist

Answer 3

It's all part of the food web.  Plants convert sunlight into energy (food) through photosynthesis.  The herbivores (deer, mice, etc.) eat the plants and consume the energy.  When carnivores (predators) come along and eat the herbivores they get the energy from the animal...but that energy ORIGINALLY came from plants.