Food webs illustrate energy flow from primary producers to primary consumers (herbivores), and from primary consumers to secondary consumers (carnivores). Under top-down control, the abundance or biomass of lower trophic levels depends on effects from consumers at higher trophic levels.

The Laws Of Thermodynamics And Energy Transfer In Food Webs Energy transfers within food webs are governed by the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The first law relates to quantities of energy. It states that energy can be transformed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed.

Answer: The law of conservation of mass states that the total amount of mass remains constant in a system. In ecology, this means that when an organism is eaten, its mass is conserved. Some of the organism’s mass is used to make new proteins, and some of it is passed as waste in the form of urine or feces.

A food chain describes how energy and nutrients move through an ecosystem. At the basic level there are plants that produce the energy, then it moves up to higher-level organisms like herbivores. In the food chain, energy is transferred from one living organism through another in the form of food.

In a Grassland food chain, the initial organisms are grass. They are producers which produces food using solar energy. Insects are primary consumers. They eat plants. They are herbivores.

Food Chains on Land

• Nectar (flowers) – butterflies – small birds – foxes.
• Dandelions – snail – frog – bird – fox.
• Dead plants – centipede – robin – raccoon.
• Decayed plants – worms – birds – eagles.
• Fruits – tapir – jaguar.
• Fruits – monkeys – monkey-eating eagle.
• Grass – antelope – tiger – vulture.
• Grass – cow – man – maggot.

Food chains are important because they show the intricate relationships in ecosystems. They can reveal how each organism depends on someone else for survival. Food chains also display what happens when a problem occurs and a producer or consumer is lost.

Elephants, bison, cheetahs, gazelles, lions, and tigers are some of the large animals living on grasslands. Rabbits, gophers, prairie dogs, and many bird, lizard, and snake species are some of the small animals that live there as well.

Grassland plants and animals Grasslands support a variety of species. Vegetation on the African savannas, for example, feeds animals including zebras, wildebeest, gazelles, and giraffes. On temperate grasslands, you might find prairie dogs, badgers, coyotes, swift foxes, and a variety of birds.

The importance of protecting/conserving grasslands is matched only by our need to have open spaces and breathe clean air. These ecosystems are critical for the health of our natural world. The grasslands provide feeding grounds for all manner of prey and predators and give balance to the world.

Grasslands are open areas of land where grasses or grasslike plants are the dominant species. Grasslands receive water through rainfall, and when it does occur the grasses use their roots to search for moisture.

Prairies are flat, fertile lands dominated by grasses. Prairie grasses, like these in the U.S. state of Colorado, hold soil firmly in place, so erosion is minimal. Prairie grass roots are very good at reaching water more than a meter deep, and they can live for a very long time.

Why are prairies important? They provide rare native habitat for birds, butter- flies, insects, reptiles, and other small wildlife. They require little maintenance, are long lasting, and do not need fertilizers or pesticides. They are perfectly adapted to our climate.

Prairies are unique and complex ecosystems. They provide a rare native habitat for birds, butterflies, insects, reptiles, and other wildlife that live only in prairie environments. Established prairies contain deep, rich soil that is a dense tangle of roots and bulbs.

The Multiple Uses of Prairie as a Crop on Marginal Land

• use as drought tolerant forage for livestock,
• habitat for wildlife including grassland birds, pollinators and small mammals,
• production of biomass for hay or biofuels and.
• soil improvement while sequestering carbon.

Great Plains

WILDLIFE: The rich native plant communities of the tallgrass prairies provide food and shelter for wildlife. These native insects thrive on the diverse plant life of the prairie ecosystem. In turn, insects provide food sources to prairie wildlife and help pollinate the flowering plants of the prairie.

The grasslands (agricultural fields) especially of North America are called Prairies. The Prairies have unique characteristics of land, temperature and plants or vegetation. The Prairies are known as the granaries of the world because of the huge production of wheat.

Climate of The Prairies The Prairies are located in the heart of a continent. Therefore, the climate is of continental type with extreme temperatures. The summers are warm, with temperatures of around 20oC and winters are very cold with temperatures of around -20oC.

Prairie Provinces, the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, in the northern Great Plains region of North America. They constitute the great wheat-producing region of Canada and are a major source for petroleum, potash, and natural gas. With British Columbia they form the Western Provinces.