AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The sun is the source of energy in the food chain. Solar energy is used by producers or plants to synthesize their own food through photosynthesis. The plants are then consumed by organisms of the higher trophic level leading to the transmission of energy.

Detailed explanation-2: -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: -Each food chain starts with energy from the sun – called solar energy. Then the next step is always a plant. Plants produce food from the sun’s energy, so they are called producers. All the steps after that are animals.

Detailed explanation-4: -Plants use a process called photosynthesis to make food. During photosynthesis, plants trap light energy with their leaves. Plants use the energy of the sun to change water and carbon dioxide into a sugar called glucose.

Detailed explanation-5: -The sun is not a producer in the food chain. Nor is it a consumer nor a decomposer. All food chains though do begin with the sun.