AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Animals obtain their carbon by eating plants; they release carbon in respiration. Micrororganisms (such as fungi and bacteria) return carbon to the environment when they decompose dead plants and animals.

Detailed explanation-2: -When animals eat food, they get carbon in the form of carbohydrates and proteins. In animals, oxygen combines with food in the cells to produce energy for daily activity and then gives off carbon.

Detailed explanation-3: -Animals get carbon by eating plants or by eating other animals. Different products produce differing amounts of greenhouse gases. Common greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane.

Detailed explanation-4: -For example, in the food chain, plants move carbon from the atmosphere into the biosphere through photosynthesis. They use energy from the sun to chemically combine carbon dioxide with hydrogen and oxygen from water to create sugar molecules.

Detailed explanation-5: -Carbon atoms enter animals’ bodies as part of large organic molecules-carbohydrates, fats, and proteins-in food. Some large organic molecules that animals eat are never digested and leave animals’ bodies as feces, but they are not the ones that help animals to grow, move, and function.