AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Dead producers and consumers and their waste products provide matter and energy to decomposers. Decomposers transform matter back into inorganic forms that can be recycled within the ecosystem. So, the energy that enters an ecosystem as sunlight eventually flows out of the ecosystem in the form of heat.

Detailed explanation-2: -Unlike energy, matter is recycled in ecosystems. Decomposers release nutrients when they break down dead organisms. nutrients are taken up by plants through their roots. nutrients pass to primary consumers when they eat the plants.

Detailed explanation-3: -Unlike the one-way flow of energy, matter is recycled within and between ecosystems. Elements pass from one organism to another and among parts of the biosphere through closed loops called biogeochemical cycles, which are powered by the flow of energy.

Detailed explanation-4: -The cycling of matter in the ecosystem occurs through a series of food chains, food webs, and nutrient cycles. The matter is transferred from one organism to another as all of them are interconnected with each other.

Detailed explanation-5: -Nutrients move through the ecosystem in biogeochemical cycles. A biogeochemical cycle is a circuit/pathway by which a chemical element moves through the biotic and the abiotic factors of an ecosystem. It is inclusive of the biotic factors, or living organisms, rocks, air, water, and chemicals.