EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Heat is lost from ecosystems. Energy losses between trophic levels restrict the length of food chains and the biomass of higher trophic levels.

Detailed explanation-2: -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-3: -Some of it is used in respiration as a source of energy to drive the synthesis of other substances the plant needs in its growth. The energy transformations involved are not 100% efficient so energy is also lost to the environment as heat (Figure 1).

Detailed explanation-4: -Energy is not recycled in ecosystems and each ecosystem requires a continuous input of energy to sustain it. There is some energy transformed at each level of the food chain or food web in an ecosystem. In an ecosystem, energy is frequently transformed from one form to another.

Detailed explanation-5: -Not all the energy is passed from one level of the food chain to the next. About 90 per cent of energy may be lost as heat (released during respiration), through movement, or in materials that the consumer does not digest. The energy stored in undigested materials can be transferred to decomposers.