4.2.1

Energy

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Energy

All living organisms require energy in one form or another, usually ATP, to carry out cellular processes.

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Energy in ecosystems

  • All living things require energy in one form or another.
  • Energy is required by most complex metabolic pathways (often in the form of adenosine triphosphate, ATP).
    • In particular, those pathways responsible for building large molecules from smaller compounds require a lot of energy.
  • Living organisms would not be able to assemble macromolecules (proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and complex carbohydrates) from their monomeric subunits without a constant energy input.
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Energy & ecosystems

  • It is important to understand how organisms acquire energy and how that energy is passed from one organism to another.
    • Energy takes a one-way path through ecosystems because energy conversions result in a loss of usable (free) energy through the release of heat. In
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Metabolism

  • Cellular processes such as the building and breaking down of complex molecules occur through stepwise chemical reactions.
  • Some of these chemical reactions are spontaneous and release energy, whereas others require energy to proceed.
  • Just as living things must continually consume food to replenish what has been used, cells must continually produce more energy to replenish that used.
    • All of the chemical reactions that take place inside cells are the cell’s metabolism.
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Metabolic rate & size

  • The relationship between metabolic rate and body mass is typically an inverse one.
    • The smaller the animal, the higher its metabolism, with mice having a higher metabolic rate than, for example, elephants.
  • Because mice have a greater surface area-to-volume ratio for their mass than larger animals, they lose heat at a faster rate.
  • So, mice require more energy to maintain constant body temperature.
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Metabolic rate comparison

  • Smaller endothermic animal having a higher basal metabolic rate (BMR), per body weight, than a larger endothermic animal.
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Life & death

  • For organisms to survive, they need to meet the energy needs of their basal metabolic rate.
    • Any extra energy may be used for growth or stored (e.g as fat).
  • If an organism has a consistent net loss of energy, it will not be able to grow and will eventually die.

Jump to other topics

1Cell Biology

2Molecular Biology

3Genetics

4Ecology

5Evolution & Biodiversity

6Human Physiology

7AHL: Nucleic Acids

8AHL: Metabolism, Cell Respiration & Photosynthesis

9AHL: Plant Biology

9.1Transport in the Xylem of Plants

9.2Transport in the Phloem of Plants

9.3Growth in Plants

10AHL: Genetics & Evolution

11AHL: Animal Physiology

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