Ace Abeka Biology Test 3 in 2026 – Dive Into Discovery and Smash It!

Energy moves through ecosystems in one direction: from producers that capture sunlight to consumers that eat them, and a large portion is released as heat during metabolism. This means energy cannot be recycled or stored indefinitely at higher levels; it steadily declines as it moves up the food chain because organisms use energy for life processes and heat is lost to the environment. Only a fraction of the energy at one level is transferred to the next, so energy does not increase at higher trophic levels.