Question

In 3 sentences, compare and contrast the flow of matter and energy for land-based ecosystems and marine ecosystems. How and why are they similar, and how and why are they different?
A pyramid with five levels, one for each trophic level of a land ecosystem.A food web depicting a marine ecosystem is shown.
short and no points and at a 6th grade level

Answer 1

Both land and marine ecosystems get energy from the sun, pass that energy from producers to consumers, and recycle nutrients when decomposers break down dead plants and animals. On land a food pyramid usually shows big plants supporting fewer, larger animals up the levels, while in the ocean tiny floating plants (phytoplankton) can support many animals so the web looks more spread out and may even seem “upside-down” with less living mass at the bottom. These differences happen because ocean producers are very small and replace themselves quickly and because water lets bits of matter sink and move to deep areas, but in both systems most energy is lost as heat so only a little moves up each level.