Energy Dynamics

The Food Chain

Energy is one of the most important abiotic factors in an ecosystem and organisms in an ecosystem are connected by the flow of energy and matter among one another. Since energy can be neither created nor destroyed, it can only change form or be transferred to the next organism in a food chain. For example, every time a co...

The first law of thermodynamics, energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed, can be demonstrated within a classic food web. Here light energy from the sun is first harnessed as radiant energy by plants and is then converted into chemical energy stored as complex carbohydrates. Some vegetation is eventually consumed by animals. In th...