AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -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.

Detailed explanation-2: -Each time something eats something else, food energy is transferred from one organism to another. The transfer of energy between organisms is called a food chain.

Detailed explanation-3: -The organisms that eat the producers are the primary consumers. They tend to be small in size and there are many of them. The primary consumers are herbivores (vegetarians). The organisms that eat the primary consumers are meat eaters (carnivores) and are called the secondary consumers.

Detailed explanation-4: -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.

Detailed explanation-5: -Primary consumers only obtain a fraction of the total solar energy-about 10%-captured by the producers they eat. The other 90% is used by the producer for growth, reproduction, and survival, or it is lost as heat.