AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Energy flows through an ecosystem and is dissipated as heat, but chemical elements are recycled. The ways in which an element-or compound such as water-moves between its various living and nonliving forms and locations in the biosphere is called a biogeochemical cycle.

Detailed explanation-2: -At each step up the food chain, only 10 percent of the energy is passed on to the next level, while approximately 90 percent of the energy is lost as heat. Teach your students how energy is transferred through an ecosystem with these resources.

Detailed explanation-3: -Energy enters an ecosystem as light, is converted to chemical energy by producers, and exits the ecosystem as heat. Energy is not recycled within an ecosystem, but flows through it and out. Producers must continue to receive energy as an input for the ecosystem to survive.

Detailed explanation-4: -Energy is transferred between organisms in food webs from producers to consumers. The energy is used by organisms to carry out complex tasks. The vast majority of energy that exists in food webs originates from the sun and is converted (transformed) into chemical energy by the process of photosynthesis in plants.

Detailed explanation-5: -Energy decreases as it moves up trophic levels because energy is lost as metabolic heat when the organisms from one trophic level are consumed by organisms from the next level. Trophic level transfer efficiency (TLTE) measures the amount of energy that is transferred between trophic levels.