Question

AGHH!! helpp please?? D:
I have been TRYING to do this for three whole hours -_____- im like dyslexic or sumthin :P but i rele need help and i would soooo appreciate this!!!
My eco-system is The Rain-forest. here's the instructions :

Conservation of Energy Essay
Explain how the ecosystem that you selected follows the law of conservation of mass and the law of conservation of energy. It is said that only about 10% of stored energy is transferred between trophic levels of the ecosystem. Be specific in your explanation of how this does not contradict the law of conservation of energy. Be sure t

Answer 1

Well... all matter cycles throughout the ecosystem, and it can be represented in a many number of ways.

Some examples I can give you include decomposition; a bird dies and all of its bodily components are consumed by microscopic bacteria or fungi, or maybe a jaguar. Remember that mass scales with energy. So that animals bodily-cells/mass/energy are consumed by other living creatures to be used and digested/used for energy in that animal's metabolism. So that energy is cycling in the ecosystem on the food chain.

Answer 2

I believe that the laws of CONSERVATION of mass and the CONSERVATION of energy states that the mass and energy will stay the same (assuming that it is indeed within a "closed" system). When speaking in terms of the ecosystem, this is what we would consider an "open" system where, animals can increase or decrease populations by eating it's prey or giving birth to its own kind. The law of conservation of energy still applies however, think of it this way. When a bird is eating an insect, per say, energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but can be converted from one form to another,such as heat from flying/ catching prey/ used for bodily functions. The body needs a constant supply of energy in order to support life. Though you might think the energy used is now "gone", IT ISN'T, it has just simply tranformed into a different kind of energy. Whereas when talking about the energy pyramid, they say that only 10% of energy is transfered to the next organism. What happened to the other 90%? Remember, we said that most of the energy CANNOT be destroyed, only transformed into another type of energy, that is why.

Answer 3

This also proves how it does not contradict the law of conservation of energy while you might need to expand on the trophic levels bit (talk more about the energy pyramids)