Question

examine how nearly all energy for life comes directly or indirectly from the sun, given that heterotrophs get their energy from the food they eat

Answer 1

Animals get their energy either from eating other animals or eating plants, plants get their energy from the sun, so almost all the energy comes from the sun by plants through phosynthesis, and then by animals eating the plants or animals that already ate the plants.

Answer 2

Step-by-step explanation:

It is very accurate that only autotophs like plants (producers) can harness the sun's energy and use it to make their own food in form of organic molecules (glucose) in a process called PHOTOSYNTHESIS, but certain animals called called HERBIVORES or Primary consumers in the ecosystem are strictly dependent on this photosynthetic plants to obtain energy. They obtain this energy by feeding on the plants.

Other animals or organisms called CARNIVORES or Secondary consumers feed on these primary consumers and energy gets transferred to them in the process. In a nutshell, one organism is dependent on another organism for energy. Now, tracing it back to where it all started, we'd realize that plants called PRODUCERS are dependent on the SUN's energy.

This implies that since the organism that started the feeding chain is dependent on the energy from sun, all other life forms are directly or indirectly dependent on the SUN i.e. without the sun's energy, plants can get energy; without plants, herbivores can't get energy and so on like that.