Energy flow is the flow of energy through living things within an ecosystem. All living organisms can be organized into producers and consumers, and those producers and consumers can further be organized into a food chain. Each of the levels within the food chain is a trophic level.

A food chain is a linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another; the levels in the food chain are producers, primary consumers, higher-level consumers, and finally decomposers. These levels are used to describe ecosystem structure and dynamics.

photosynthesis

The nutrients are taken up by plants through their roots. The nutrients pass to primary consumers when they eat the plants. The nutrients pass to higher level consumers when they eat lower level consumers. When living things die, the cycle repeats.

Chemical nutrients and energy tend to flow in the same direction for most of an ecosystem. The big difference is that the chemical nutrients are ultimately recycled in the ecosystem while the energy is ultimately lost from the ecosystem to the universe at large. Energy in any ecosystem ultimately comes from the Sun.

Which best describes how energy and nutrients work in an ecosystem? subtracting respiration from gross primary production (Gross primary production (production by autotrophs) minus the energy used in the process of cellular respiration (by autotrophs) equals the amount of energy available to a system.)

Energy and nutrients are passed around through the food chain, when one organism eats another organism. An example of energy flow in an ecosystem would begin with the autotrophs that take energy from the sun. Herbivores then feed on the autotrophs and change the energy from the plant into energy that they can use.

Energy and nutrients, or chemicals, flow through an ecosystem. While energy flows through the ecosystem and cannot be recycled, nutrients cycle within an ecosystem and are reused. Both energy flow and chemical cycling help define the structure and dynamics of the ecosystem….

Energy flow in the marine community All organisms need energy to live. Energy enters a community when plants and algae trap light energy during photosynthesis. They change the light energy into chemical energy in glucose, which then moves through the community as different organisms eat each other.

fossil fuels

Wind-driven and ocean-current circulations move warm water toward the poles and colder water toward the equator. The ocean can store much more heat than the land surfaces on the Earth. The majority of the thermal energy at the Earth’s surface is stored in the ocean.

Ocean thermal energy is used for many applications, including electricity generation. Closed-cycle systems use the ocean’s warm surface water to vaporize a working fluid, which has a low-boiling point, such as ammonia. The vapor expands and turns a turbine. The turbine then activates a generator to produce electricity.

Ocean energy refers to all forms of renewable energy derived from the sea. There are three main types of ocean technology: wave, tidal and ocean thermal.

The World Renewable Energy Report estimates the cost of wave energy at an average of 9 cents/kWh and tidal and current an average of 8 cents/kWh. Recent EPRI reports have found that, presently, the cost of power from ocean technologies ranges from 7 cents to 16 cents/kw in a low case scenario.

Wave power converts the periodic up-and-down movement of the oceans waves into electricity by placing equipment on the surface of the oceans that captures the energy produced by the wave movement and converts this mechanical energy into electrical power.

Tidal turbines are more expensive to build than wind turbines but can capture more energy with the same size blades.

We can use tidal energy to supply electricity to our homes and businesses. Tidal generators (or turbines) work like wind turbines, except it is ocean currents, not wind, that turns them. The spinning turbine is connected to another device that produces electricity.