Through these experiments, you concluded that:

1. Energy enters an ecosystem through the energy from the Sun. Plants use the sun’s energy for photosynthesis and to produce their own food. When herbivores eat the plants, energy from the plants is obtained by the herbivores. When carnivores eat herbivores, they obtain energy from the herbivores. When scavengers consume carnivores, they obtain the energy from the carnivores. The energy at each level of an ecosystem is contained in the biomass of organisms at that level. Therefore energy is transferred from one level to another as consumers in one level eat the biomass from the level below.

2. The amount of energy in an ecosystem is affected by the amount of energy that can be captured by plants through photosynthesis. The amount of energy that can be captured by plants is determined by the amount of energy that reaches the Earth from the Sun.