Energy must be transformed in ecosystems because _______.
Explain how waste heat is inevitable in ecosystems.
Energy is neither created nor destroyed by chemical processes, merely transferred. Since energy is also lost every time energy is transferred between organisms, that lost heat must go somewhere. That lost energy becomes waste heat in the environment.
Primary productivity is not limited by _______.
Which of the following is true about the efficiency of energy transfer in an ecosystem?
How is energy associated with food stored?
Which of the following is a product of respiration resulting from the breaking of carbon-carbon bonds?
Explain why cold-blooded organisms like reptiles have a higher rate of secondary productivity than warm-blooded mammals.
Secondary productivity is the rate at which consumers convert chemical energy into their own biomass. This rate is based on the organism’s metabolism, because organisms with higher metabolisms have to consume more energy to maintain their metabolic processes relative to how much energy is converted into their biomass. Reptiles have slower metabolisms than mammals and do not consume as much energy relative to their body mass as mammals, giving them a higher rate of secondary productivity.
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