Question

How does eating contribute to the flow of energy in a ecosystem

Answer 1

The food chain begins with producers, organisms such as green plants, that can make their own food. Through photosynthesis, producers convert solar energy to chemical energy, energy in the chemical bonds of the food. Plants are eaten by consumers, which are organisms that cannot make their own food.

-Carbon bonds in food are broken, which releases energy.
-Weathering breaks down rocks into chemicals like sulfur and nitrogen. -Consumers make food using light energy from the sun.
-Energy is absorbed as heat when plants make food

Answer 2

Eating contributes to the flow of an ecosystem because in a food web/chain, there is always a consumer. Starting from the very bottom of the food web/chain, all organisms eat to pass on the energy to the next cosumer. For example, a grasshopper eats some grass. That grass is made into energy. Then, a possum eats that grasshopper, the energy from the grasshopper converting to the energy of the possum. Then a giant snake comes along and eats the possum. The energy keeps flowing up and up the food chain as animals consume(and be consumed).