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Energy losses through food chains

Hello :smile:

In class, we were given a list of words/phrases and asked to decide which ones were 'energy losses through food chains'

They are as follows;

Ingestion
Reflection
Some light passes through leaves
Only some wavelengths absorbed
Most light misses leaves
Only certain light intensities absorbed
Not all parts eaten
Transpiration
Photosynthesis
ATP
Egestion
Hydrolysis
Digestion
Excretion
Heat
Movement

I thought that the correct ones were:
Movement
Heat
Digestion and Excretion...

as the others relate to why sunlight is not all absorbed by plants...is this right?

THANKS!
Sorry for such a long list!
I would have gone for: Not all parts eaten, movement, egestion and heat. Excretion might be one but I wouldn't say so.
Reply 2
Avatar for Artymess
Artymess
16
Here's my thoughts:

Ingestion - requires minimal energy to chew/swallow/use muscles
Reflection - if this means being idle, the organism is still respiring and carrying out processes
Some light passes through leaves - This depends on when the foodchain starts. if it starts with the producer, you can't count this. If it starts by considering all the energy from the sun as the first value, this would be some energy loss
Only some wavelengths absorbed - see above
Most light misses leaves - see above
Only certain light intensities absorbed - see above
Not all parts eaten - yup, energy lost
Transpiration - this is water loss so I'm not sure if I want to count it.
Photosynthesis - Unsure on this one
ATP - it's a molecule? what about it?
Egestion - Loss of energy in a food chain, not necessarily in a food web
Hydrolysis - I guess enzyme activity, or at least producing enzymes, requires energy
Digestion - yup, energy loss
Excretion - yup, energy loss
Heat - yup, energy loss
Movement - yup, energy loss
(edited 10 years ago)

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