Energy flow through an ecosystem

The idea

Autotrophs capture the energy of sunlight and convert it into chemical energy, which passes to heterotrophs and decomposers; whenever energy changes form, some is lost to the environment in forms that cannot be used again.

Where does the energy go?

You eat food and have energy to run and play. The food was made by plants using sunlight.

What happens to the energy of sunlight in an ecosystem?

• Plants capture it, it passes to other organisms, and some is lost
• It stays in the plants
• It returns to the Sun after plants capture it

Follow the energy

Press Next step.

Energy moves and leaks

The autotrophs turn the energy of sunlight into chemical energy, which supports all the activities of the living world. It goes to the heterotrophs and to the decomposers. At each change from one form of energy to another, some energy is lost to the environment in forms that cannot be used again.

Autotrophs capture the energy of sunlight and convert it into chemical energy, which passes to heterotrophs and decomposers; whenever energy changes form, some is lost to the environment in forms that cannot be used again.

Notes

Autotrophs capture sunlight as chemical energy; it passes to others, and some is lost at each change.

Check yourself

What do autotrophs do with the energy of sunlight?

To which organisms does the energy go from the autotrophs?

What happens to some energy when one form of energy changes into another?

Which organisms are called autotrophs?

• Capture it and convert it into chemical energy — correct. Yes!
• Send it back to the Sun. The energy captured by autotrophs does not revert back to the solar input. It is converted into chemical energy.
• Hand it on to herbivores as sunlight. Herbivores get the energy as chemical energy, in the food they eat.
• Back to the Sun. The energy goes on to the heterotrophs and the decomposers.
• Heterotrophs and decomposers — correct. Yes!
• To no organism, it stays in the leaves. From the autotrophs the energy goes to the heterotrophs and decomposers.
• It is created from nothing. No new energy appears. Some of the energy is lost to the environment in forms that cannot be used again.
• It becomes easier to use again. The energy that is lost is in forms that cannot be used again.
• It is lost to the environment in forms that cannot be used again — correct. Yes!
• The producers — correct. Yes!
• The consumers. The consumers are the heterotrophs.
• The decomposers. Decomposers break down dead remains and wastes. The autotrophs are the producers.