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Watch these 2 videos going in depth on specific topics

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Biomass is the combined mass of a population or ecosystem, and you can see that as you go up on the food chain in the second image, the biomass of each species becomes much lower. That's because animals higher on the food chain are less common than other organisms. As an ecosystem, the more sunlight received, the larger the entire combined biomass will be. Biomes with a large amount of sunlight and water have a large biomass. Plants thrive in environments with  both of these. Remember, plants are the base of an ecosystem, so a lot of plants mean a lot of animals too. With this high primary productivity, energy is able to be made useful very quickly. For example, rainforests receive an abundant amount of both water and sunlight. It's biomass is much larger than an ecosystem that might only have a little sunlight. The graph below shows the biomass for many different biomes. Click on the photo to the left and think about which areas get the most amount of sunlight and water. How do these factors relate to each place's biomass?

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Energy is lost through each transaction in a food chain because each organism uses energy for cellular respiration (maintaining cells), growth, it is egested, and it is sent out as heat. This causes it to be unusable to future organisms.

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Energy flows in an ecosystem similar to a nutrient cycle. The energy in an ecosystem will always come from the sun. From there, plants make it in to food, and as each organism is eaten, the energy will be taken in by the consumer. This isn't perfect though. A lot of energy is lost through each transaction. Only about 10% is passed to the next organism. It is not perfectly efficient because the energy must be used. This can be shown by a ecological pyramid. These diagrams show the loss of energy through each transaction in a food chain. Click on the 4 images below to see how the energy available becomes decreasingly smaller.

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Need another close look at organisms in NEATURE?

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Need another close look at organisms in NEATURE?

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Here's a video to show plants and animals in a mountain forest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5yYFI4OYLw

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Still unsure of the parts on a food chain?

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Still unsure of the parts on a food chain?

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Here's a video that explains the specific parts of a food chain in the Everglades and where the energy goes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZOvqYypOuo

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Food webs show the relationships between many organisms in an ecosystem. Instead of a linear path, it shows how some organisms obtain energy from multiple places. It can become very complex if more organisms are added to the chart. Arrows show where the energy from one organism goes to another. Click on the pictures for a closer look on how food webs are organized.

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There are 2 common ways of showing the flow of nutrients in an ecosystem.

A food chain shows a linear path of energy through different organisms. These chains follow specific species, and do not break into separate sections. Click on the photo for a closer look at where each organism gets its energy.

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Egestion is the excretion of unwanted substances from the body. Unusable substances, salt, water, digestive food residue, waste, and fiber are egested from your body every day. This is important because it allows unused substances to return to the ecosystem through feces, urine, and sweat. Combined with dead organic material, detritus is created. This mixture is great for helping plants grow and thrive.

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Organisms are split into 3 main categories depending on how they obtain food. These groups are producers, consumers, and decomposers.

Producers are organisms that create their own food. They are also known as autotrophs. Usually, photosynthesis is used to create food. (Read box on right for more information on this) Most plants are producers, and are the base of the food chain. Some protists and bacteria are producers too. Without these organisms, entire ecosystems would die out.

Consumers receive energy by digesting other organisms. These organisms are also referred to as heterotrophs. Most animals and some protists are producers.

Decomposers are organisms that feed by decomposing organic material. Fungi are popular for being decomposers, but many bacteria and some animals are as well. These organisms finish eating dead matter after scavengers are done. Decomposers are important because they break up matter that other organisms won't eat, and return nutrients to the soil by breaking up matter, then getting rid of the waste. (Read box on right for more information on this) Because nutrients are able to return to the soil, plants can feed and grow from the now fertile soil. This cycle of turning dead, organic matter into the production of a living organism again is called a nutrient cycle.

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Most autotrophic organisms use photosynthesis to obtain glucose (sugar).
Carbon dioxide and water are taken in, then used with sunlight to produce glucose and oxygen. Although famously used by plants, many bacteria and protists use photosynthesis as well. Click on the photos for a closer look.