Explain how energy flows through an ecosystem and why the available energy decreases between trophic levels.

Energy usually flows through the ecosystem with predators eating prey(or the food chain). Energy decreases between trophic levels because when an organism eats something, it uses part of this energy for its bodily functions/ordinary tasks and since this energy is used it doesn't get passed on, which is why the energy decreases!

Answer Link

TenishaTon TenishaTon · Answer 2 · 2019-05-22T06:42:35+02:00

Answer:

The energy flows in the ecosystem in the form of matter(food). The food that is prepare by the producers is used by the consumers and the energy is transferred in the form of food.

The energy decreases at each tropic level because it is utilized by the organism itself for performing various types of metabolic reactions and some amount of energy is lost in the form of heat.

Apart from this only some amount of energy is transferred to another level which is approximately 10% of the total energy they have.