The ultimate source of energy for almost all ecosystems.

Organisms that convert solar energy into chemical energy (glucose) through photosynthesis.

Organisms that eat producers.

Organisms that eat herbivores or other carnivores.

Organisms that break down dead organisms, recycling nutrients.

The form of energy that moves through the trophic pyramid.

The process that converts glucose into usable chemical energy (ATP) and releases thermal energy.

A measure of disorder in a system; it increases every time energy is transformed.

Energy is neither created nor destroyed, only transformed.

Every time energy is transformed, entropy (disorder) increases.

Only about 10% of energy from one trophic level moves up to the next.

Each step in a food chain or food web.

Energy transformations always result in some energy being converted to less usable forms, like heat, increasing entropy.

Top predators need large territories to find enough food because only 10% of energy is transferred at each trophic level.

Energy transformations result in losses to waste heat, reducing the amount of energy available at each trophic level.

1. Producers capture solar energy. 2. Herbivores eat producers. 3. Carnivores eat herbivores. 4. Decomposers break down dead organisms.

1. Plants absorb sunlight. 2. Plants take in carbon dioxide and water. 3. Plants convert sunlight, CO2, and water into glucose and oxygen.

1. Glucose is broken down. 2. Energy is released. 3. ATP is produced. 4. Thermal energy is released.