EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Carnivores get their carbon from the bodies of other animals. Herbivores get theirs from plants. This means that all land consumers ultimately depend on photosynthesis.

Detailed explanation-2: -All animals, from humans to the dinosaurs are part of the carbon cycle. 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 that eat plants digest the sugar molecules to get energy for their bodies. Respiration, excretion, and decomposition release the carbon back into the atmosphere or soil, continuing the cycle.

Detailed explanation-4: -Animals are called consumers, because they use the oxygen that is produced by plants. Carbon dioxide is released back into the atmosphere during respiration of consumers, which breaks down glucose and other complex organic compounds and converts the carbon back to carbon dioxide for reuse by producers.

Detailed explanation-5: -The source of the carbon found in living matter is carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air or dissolved in water. Algae and terrestrial green plants (producers) are the chief agents of carbon dioxide fixation through the process of photosynthesis, through which carbon dioxide and water are converted into simple carbohydrates.