Energy and Nutrient Flows

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Energy and nutrient flows are fundamental to an ecosystem functioning properly.

Nutrient cycle - the feedback of minerals from decomposed organic material back into plants

Energy cycle - the flow of energy through the system e.g. food chain/web

Energy Flows:

Primary producers at level 1 convert sunlight into energy via photosynthesis

Energy is lost through respiration at each stage

The amount of biomass at each level also decreases

Any change to this cycle can put the ecosystem under threat

Nutrient Flows:

The circulation of chemical elements from the environment to organism and back to the environment again

Nutrients are stored as either soil, litter or biomass

This is easily affected as it is an open system and nutrients can be added physically or by human elements