why the flow of nutrients through an ecosystem is cyclic
Answers
Flow of nutrients through an ecosystem is cyclic. This cyclic flow sees nutrients move from one trophic level to another trophic level all the way up and then back down.
Trophic level refers to hierarchical level in the food chain where organism share same nutritional characteristics and roles.
The cyclic flow is as follows:
Nutrients are manufactured by pproduces, green plants, at the lowest trophic level by the help of the sun's energy through the process of photosynthesis.
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The nutrients made by the producers are passed on to the primary consumers , herbivores, when they feed on the producers.
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The primary consumers are feed on by the secondary consumers - and this is how nutrients are passed on from the primary consumers to the secondary consumers.
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The tertiary and the Quaternary consumers also obtain nutrients from feeding one or all of the lower trophic levels.
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Nutrients are the transferred back to the soil from the higher trophic levels back to the soil through decomposition of this high level trophic organisms by decomposers such as bacteria and fungi.
(The producers then acquire the nutrients from the soil and process of the transfer to the next trophic level begins all over again)
Thus, the flow of energy in the ecosystem is said to be unidirectional because the energy lost as heat from the living organisms of a food chain cannot be reused by plants inphotosynthesis.
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