Theme 3: ENERGY TRANSFER
Description: Energy is the capacity to do work. All living organisms are active (living) because of their abilities to link energy reactions to the biochemical reactions that take place within their cells.
Clarification: You would post here examples of how organisms are able to capture energy and utilize it to do the work that supports life.
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They key structures in organisms that converts energy from abiotic factors to biotic factors are chloroplasts. Chloroplasts are found in autotrophs where it takes energy from the sun to produce stored glucose. This transfer is important because now energy can flow through a system.
Photosynthesis is an example of the transsfer of energy. Plants and some bacteria use sunlight, Carbon Dioxide and water and transfer that into glucose and oxygen and make energy to use in daily processes.
Energy flows through a system. Energy is what supports a food chain or food web. Energy is lost at each level of the ecological pyramid. The greatest amount of energy is at the bottom of the pyramid with the producers. That is also where the greatest biomass is. Top predators are always the least in population size because that is where the least amount of energy is. At each level energy is lost in various processes. About 50% is used in feces, and 33% is used in cellular respiration. Only 17% is used in growth and only that much moves on to the next level in the food chain.
Extremophiles: Microorganisms are able to live in extreme conditions and create energy. A prime example are sulfide-oxidizing bacteria that live in deep depths of the ocean with hot water and high concentrations of various metals and dissolved sulfide. These bacteria use the sulfide to create energy thus starting a food chain at unbelieveable depths of the ocean where no life was thought to exist.
(Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), sulfur, and thiosulfate (S2O3). The final product of sulfur oxidation is sulfate (SO4))
Energy is taken in by organisms in many ways. Some capture sunlight to make energy. Some consume autotrophs like plants called herbivores. Some consume other organisms like carnivores. Some use both methods. still other organisms use sulfur to make their energy like deep in the ocean.
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