WHAT ROLES DO AUTOTROPHS PLAY IN THE COMMUNITY?
Most ecosystems rely on a supply of energy from sunlight. In biological communities the initial source of energy is sunlight. Autotrophs have the ability to harvest this energy through photosynthesis. The three different groups of autotrophs that have the ability to carry out photosynthesis are: plants, eukaryotic algae and cyan bacteria. These organisms are referred to as producers since they obtain energy for themselves, which is then carried on through the entire ecosystem. In conclusion autotrophs have the immense responsibly of obtaining the erg that would then be distributed through the ecosystem.
WHY IS THERE A LIMIT TO THE NUMBER OF TROPHIC LEVELS IN AN ECOSYSTEM?
The trophic level of an organism is its feeding position on the food chain. Feeding relationships are mostly like a web, meaning that they can vary depending on the situation, when describing the trophic level of an organism, there has to be reference to a specific food chain. Heat lost from ecosystems: according to the laws of thermodynamics in physics, heat passes from hotter to cooler bodies, so heat produced in living organisms is all eventually lost to the abiotic environment. Energy losses between trophic levels, restrict the length of food chains and the biomass of higher trophic levels. The biomass makes up the cells and tissues of organisms, including the carbohydrates and other carbon compounds. Ecologists can measure how much energy is added per year by groups of organisms to their biomass. these are calculated per square meter of ecosystem so that different trophic levels are compared. For secondary consumers, the amount of energy is always less per year per square meter of ecosystem than in primary consumers.
TO WHAT EXTENT ARE MODELS USEFUL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE REAL WORLD?
Do the entities in scientists' models, for example trophic levels or Gersmehl diagrams, actually exist, or are they primarily useful inventions for predicting and explaining the natural?
Entities in scientists' models such as trophic levels and Gersmehl diagrams don't exist, they are primarily useful for predicting and explaining nature. In real life, these types of division aren't created by the ecosystem themselves, nor are they one hundred percent accurate. The level of accuracy indicates the failures within them meaning that they are just created in order to have a deeper knowledge of how nature might work according to this systems. Besides from glitches, these models also have different perspective; which once again supports the idea that they are only shallow creations form scientists that allow a stronger understanding on how nature works.