AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The correct answer is (c) energy flows in only one direction through an ecosystem. Energy is captured from sunlight by plants, then passed on to the organisms that eat plants, then passed to the organisms that eat those organisms, and so on. The result is a linear, unidirectional flow of energy through an ecosystem.

Detailed explanation-2: -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-3: -Continual input of energy, mostly from sunlight, keeps the process going. 3.4 Energy flows through food webs in one direction, from producers to consumers and decomposers. An organism that eats lower on a food chain is more energy efficient than one eating higher on a food chain.

Detailed explanation-4: -Primary producers use energy from the sun to produce their own food in the form of glucose, and then primary producers are eaten by primary consumers who are in turn eaten by secondary consumers, and so on, so that energy flows from one trophic level, or level of the food chain, to the next.