BRAINCAKESimplifying Food Webs to Reduce Energy Loss
In a natural ecosystem, energy from producers flows into many food chains. On a farm, any energy that goes to organisms other than the crop or livestock, such as weeds, insect pests or fungi, is lost to the human food chain. Simplifying the food web redirects that energy to humans.
Methods include:
• Herbicides kill weeds. Weeds compete with crop plants for light, water, mineral ions and space, so removing them lets the crop convert more light energy into its own biomass.
• Insecticides kill insect pests that eat the crop, so less of the crop's biomass (and energy) passes to non-human food chains.
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More in Energy and Ecosystems
- Gross Primary Production
- Net Primary Production
- NPP = GPP - R
- Net Production of Consumers
- Efficiency of Energy Transfer
- Calculating Percentage Efficiency
- Farming Practices and Productivity
- Reducing Respiratory Losses in Livestock
All 14 lessons in Energy and Ecosystems · All AQA A-level Biology topics