35. Long answer question I

 

In a terrestrial ecosystem, green plants capture roughly 1%70%10%50% of the sunlight's energy that falls on their leaves to transform them into food.

 

When secondary consumers tertiary consumers primary consumers  eat green plants, much energy is lost to the environment as heat. A part of energy goes into digestion and work, and the remainder goes into growth and reproduction. Roughly around 30%60%40%10% of the food consumed is converted into its own body and made available to the next level of consumers. As a result, 10% can be used as an average value for the quantity of organic matter present at each step before it reaches the next level of consumers.

 

As very little energy is available for the next level of consumers, food chains usually consist of three or four levels. After four trophic levels, the energy loss is so high that very little usable energy is left.

 

The lower trophic levels of an ecosystem have a higher number of individualslower number of individuals, with the producers having the highest number.

 

Food chains vary tremendously in length and complexity. In general, each organism is eaten by two or more other organisms consumed by several others. Thus, the relationship can be depicted as a food web, a network of branching lines instead of a straight line food chain.

 

The energy flow in a food chain is unidirectionalbidirectionalmultidirectional, i.e. energy captured by the autotrophs does not revert as solar energy. Also, the energy passed to the herbivores does not return to the autotrophs. When a level progresses, there is no longer energy available to the previous level.