CHAPTER 18

Organisms and Their Environment

IGCSE Biology Revision Notes

18.1 Energy Flow and Food Webs

Where energy comes from

All the energy in almost every ecosystem starts as light energy from the Sun. Green plants and algae trap a
small amount of this light energy and change it into chemical energy (stored in food) by photosynthesis. This
chemical energy then passes from organism to organism when one is eaten by another.

Food chains
A food chain shows the transfer of energy from one organism to the next, starting with a producer. Each
arrow means 'is eaten by' and shows the direction energy flows.
Example: Grass → Grasshopper → Frog → Snake → Hawk
• Food chains rarely have more than 4 or 5 organisms (levels), because so much energy is lost at each
stage that there is not enough left to support another level.
• The arrows always point in the direction energy is transferred, i.e. from the organism being eaten to the
organism eating it.

Food webs
In a real habitat, most animals eat more than one type of food, and are themselves eaten by more than one
predator. A food web is a network of interconnected food chains, showing all the feeding relationships in a
community.
• A food web gives a more realistic and complete picture of feeding relationships than a single food chain.
• If one organism in a food web is removed (e.g. by disease or a change in the environment), the numbers
of several other organisms can be affected, since they may have alternative food sources or predators.

Trophic levels
A trophic level is the position an organism occupies in a food chain, i.e. its feeding level. Organisms are
grouped into trophic levels according to how they obtain their energy, not according to what species they are.

Trophic Level Also Called Description / Example

Level 1 Producer Makes its own food by photosynthesis, e.g. grass, algae,
trees

Level 2 Primary consumer (herbivore) Eats producers, e.g. grasshopper, rabbit, zooplankton

Level 3 Secondary consumer Eats primary consumers, e.g. frog, small fish
(carnivore/omnivore)

Level 4 Tertiary consumer (carnivore) Eats secondary consumers, e.g. snake, large fish

Top level Top carnivore / apex predator Has no natural predators, e.g. hawk, shark
Producers and consumers
Producers
• Producers are organisms (mainly green plants and algae) that make their own organic food from simple
inorganic substances (carbon dioxide and water) using light energy — this process is photosynthesis.
• Producers form the base (start) of every food chain, because they are the only organisms that can capture
the Sun's energy directly.

Consumers
• Consumers are organisms that cannot make their own food. They obtain energy by feeding on other
organisms.
• Herbivores are primary consumers — they eat only plants.
• Carnivores eat only other animals.
• Omnivores eat both plants and animals.
• Decomposers (bacteria and fungi) feed on dead organisms and waste, breaking them down and releasing
nutrients — they are covered in detail in 18.2.

Energy losses along a food chain

Not all the energy taken in by an organism is passed on to the next trophic level. A large amount is lost at
every stage, for reasons including:
• Respiration — much energy is released as heat during respiration and lost to the surroundings, especially
in mammals and birds that keep a constant body temperature.
• Movement — energy is used for muscle contraction and other activities.
• Excretion and egestion — energy is lost in urine, faeces, and other waste materials that are not digested
or absorbed.
• Parts not eaten — e.g. bones, roots, or fur may not be consumed by the next organism in the chain.
• Not all organisms at one trophic level are eaten — some die of disease or old age and are broken down
by decomposers instead.

Rule of thumb: Only about 10% of the energy at one trophic level is transferred to the next trophic level.
About 90% is lost, mostly as heat through respiration.

Pyramids of biomass
A pyramid of biomass is a diagram that represents the total mass of living material (biomass) at each trophic
level in a food chain, drawn to scale.
• Each bar represents a trophic level; the producer is at the bottom, and each level above shows the next
consumer.
• The width of each bar is proportional to the biomass (mass of living organisms) at that level.
• Because energy and biomass decrease going up a food chain, pyramids of biomass are usually a true
pyramid shape (wide base, narrowing towards the top).
• Occasionally, a pyramid of biomass can have an unusual shape — for example, when the producer is
very small but reproduces very fast (such as algae in water), a smaller biomass of producers can support
a larger biomass of consumers at a single moment in time.

Pyramids of energy
A pyramid of energy shows the amount of energy present at each trophic level in a food chain over a set
period of time (usually per year, per unit area).
• Pyramids of energy are always a true pyramid shape — they never have an inverted or unusual shape,
unlike pyramids of numbers or biomass.
• This is because energy is always lost at each trophic level (through respiration, heat, waste, etc.), so the
amount of energy available must always decrease as you move up the food chain.
 • Pyramids of energy are considered the most accurate and reliable way to represent the flow of energy
through an ecosystem.

Efficiency of energy transfer

The efficiency of energy transfer is calculated as:
Efficiency (%) = (energy available at a trophic level ÷ energy available at the level before it) × 100
• On average, only about 10% of the energy is transferred successfully from one trophic level to the next;
the rest (about 90%) is lost, mainly as heat.
• Because of this large loss, food chains are short — there is not enough energy left to support many
trophic levels.
• This is also why there are usually far fewer top carnivores than producers in an ecosystem, and why
eating foods from lower down a food chain (e.g. plants) is a more energy-efficient way to feed a large
human population than eating meat.

18.2 Nutrient Cycles

What are nutrients?

Nutrients are chemical elements and compounds that living organisms need for growth and other life
processes, for example carbon, nitrogen, water, and mineral ions. Unlike energy, which flows through an
ecosystem and is eventually lost as heat, nutrients are recycled — they are used over and over again, passing
between living organisms and the non-living (physical) environment.

The role of decomposers

Decomposers are microorganisms (mainly bacteria and fungi) that feed on dead organisms and waste
products, such as faeces, dead leaves, and dead animals.
• Decomposers break down complex organic molecules in dead matter into simpler inorganic substances,
through the process of decomposition (decay).
• This releases nutrients (such as carbon dioxide and mineral ions like nitrates) back into the soil, air, and
water, where they can be taken up again by producers.
• Without decomposers, nutrients would remain 'locked up' in dead bodies and waste, and would not be
available for new life — nutrient cycles would stop.
• Decay happens faster in warm, moist, oxygen-rich conditions, since decomposers (like all living things)
respire faster and are more active under these conditions.

The carbon cycle

Carbon moves between the atmosphere (as carbon dioxide gas), living organisms, and, over long periods,
fossil fuels and rocks.

Process What happens to carbon

Photosynthesis Producers (plants, algae) absorb carbon dioxide from the air/water and convert it into
glucose and other organic compounds, using light energy.

Feeding Carbon compounds pass from producers to consumers along food chains as organisms
eat one another.

Respiration All living organisms (plants, animals, decomposers) release carbon dioxide back into
the air/water as a waste product of respiration.

Death and decomposition When organisms die, decomposers break down the carbon compounds in their bodies,
releasing carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.
 Combustion Burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) and wood releases carbon dioxide that has
been 'locked away' for millions of years back into the atmosphere very quickly.

Fossilisation In some cases, dead plants and animals do not fully decompose (e.g. under high
pressure, without oxygen) and are instead turned into fossil fuels over millions of
years, locking carbon away.

Important: Human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, are releasing carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere much faster than it can be reabsorbed, contributing to the greenhouse effect and
global warming.

The nitrogen cycle

Nitrogen gas makes up about 78% of the atmosphere, but most living organisms cannot use nitrogen gas
directly — plants need nitrogen in the form of nitrate ions in the soil to make proteins, and animals get
nitrogen by eating plants or other animals.

Process What happens

Nitrogen fixation Nitrogen gas in the air is converted into nitrogen compounds (ammonium/nitrates)
usable by plants. This is done by nitrogen-fixing bacteria (some living freely in the
soil, others living in root nodules of leguminous plants, e.g. peas and beans), or by
lightning, or industrially (fertiliser manufacture).

Uptake by plants Plants absorb nitrates from the soil through their roots and use them to build amino
acids and proteins.

Feeding Nitrogen compounds (proteins) pass along the food chain as animals eat plants and
other animals.

Decomposition Decomposers break down proteins in dead organisms and waste (urine, faeces) into
(putrefaction) ammonium compounds.

Nitrification Nitrifying bacteria in the soil convert ammonium compounds first into nitrites, then
into nitrates, which plants can absorb again.

Denitrification Denitrifying bacteria in waterlogged, oxygen-poor soil convert nitrates back into
nitrogen gas, which returns to the atmosphere.
• Leguminous plants (peas, beans, clover) are often grown by farmers in crop rotation because the
nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their root nodules increase the nitrate content of the soil naturally, reducing
the need for fertiliser.

18.3 Populations

Key definitions
• Population — all the organisms of one species living in the same area, at the same time, that can
interbreed with one another.
• Birth rate — the number of offspring produced per member of the population in a given time (e.g. per
year).
• Death rate (mortality rate) — the number of deaths per member of the population in a given time.

Population growth rule: If birth rate is greater than death rate, the population increases. If death rate is
greater than birth rate, the population decreases. If they are equal, the population stays stable.
Factors affecting population growth
A population grows when there is a plentiful supply of resources and few dangers. Growth typically follows
an S-shaped (sigmoid) curve: slow growth at first, then a rapid increase, before levelling off once the
population reaches the carrying capacity of the environment (the maximum population size the environment
can support).
• Food and water supply — more food available allows a higher birth rate and lower death rate.
• Predation — more predators increases the death rate of the prey population.
• Disease — spreads more easily and kills more individuals in dense populations.
• Competition — for food, space, mates, and light, both within a species (intraspecific) and between
different species (interspecific).
• Climate/temperature — extreme conditions can increase death rate or reduce birth rate.
• Migration — organisms moving into (immigration) or out of (emigration) an area also changes
population size.

Limiting factors
A limiting factor is any factor that restricts the growth of a population once it becomes scarce or
unfavourable. As a population grows, resources become scarcer, and limiting factors slow down or stop
further growth, keeping the population near the carrying capacity.
• Density-dependent factors — their effect becomes stronger as population density increases, e.g. food
shortage, disease, predation, and competition. These help keep a population size stable around the
carrying capacity.
• Density-independent factors — affect a population regardless of its size, e.g. natural disasters, extreme
weather (drought, flooding, frost).

Age pyramids (population pyramids)

An age pyramid (population pyramid) is a diagram showing the number (or percentage) of males and females
in different age groups within a population, usually drawn as horizontal bars for each age group, split by sex.
• A wide base with rapidly narrowing bars above shows a population with a high birth rate and high death
rate — typical of a rapidly growing population in a developing country.
• A pyramid with straighter, more even sides (a more rectangular shape) shows a population with lower
birth and death rates, and a longer life expectancy — typical of many developed countries.
• Age pyramids are used by governments to plan for future needs, such as schools, hospitals, and
pensions, based on the proportion of young, working-age, and elderly people.

Predator–prey relationships
A predator is an animal that hunts and kills other animals (prey) for food. The population sizes of predators
and prey are closely linked and tend to rise and fall in cycles.
• When prey numbers increase (e.g. more food, good breeding conditions), predators have more food
available, so the predator population also increases (after a short delay).
• As predator numbers rise, they eat more prey, so the prey population falls.
• With less prey available, many predators die of starvation or fail to reproduce, so the predator population
then falls.
• With fewer predators, the prey population can recover and increase again, and the cycle repeats.
On a graph, the predator population curve usually follows just behind (lags behind) the prey population curve,
producing two overlapping, out-of-phase wave patterns.

Human population
The size of the human population has grown extremely rapidly, especially over the last 200 years, and is still
increasing in many parts of the world.
Reasons for rapid human population growth
• Improvements in medicine and healthcare (vaccines, antibiotics) have greatly reduced death rates,
especially infant mortality.
• Improved sanitation and clean water supplies reduce the spread of disease.
• Improved agriculture and food production/storage mean more people can be fed.
• Birth rate has remained high in many developing countries, while death rate has fallen sharply, causing
rapid population growth.

Problems caused by rapid human population growth

• Increased demand for food, water, energy, housing, and other resources.
• Greater production of waste and pollution (air, water, land).
• Habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity as land is cleared for farming and building.
• Depletion of non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels.
• Overcrowding can increase the spread of disease and put pressure on healthcare, education, and other
services.

Exam tip: When explaining any population graph or pyramid, always link your answer back to birth rate,
death rate, and available resources — examiners look for this cause-and-effect reasoning.