Energy in an

ecosystem

 Energy is transferred between organisms in food webs from producers to

consumers. The energy is used by organisms to carry out complex tasks.
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. A small proportion of this chemical energy is
transformed directly into heat when compounds are broken down during resp​
iration in plants. The majority of the chemical energy stored in plants is
transformed into other forms by an assortment of consumers, such as cows,
rabbits, horses, sheep, caterpillars and other insects eating plants.
Some of the stored chemical energy in a producer such as grass is stored as
chemical energy in the fat or protein in the first order consumers that eat the
grass. This energy is available for higher order consumers. At each stage of a
food chain, most of the chemical energy is converted to other forms such as
heat, and does not remain within the ecosystem.
images of energy in an ecosystem