Animals need plants for energy. This happens through two main processes: photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
What is it?: Photosynthesis is how green plants, algae, and some bacteria turn sunlight into food. They use carbon dioxide (a gas we breathe out) and water to make glucose (a type of sugar) and oxygen (the air we breathe).
Easy Equation: You can think of photosynthesis like this:
Why is it important?: Photosynthesis is very important because it creates about 100 billion tons of food every year on Earth. This food is the basis for food chains, which means it supports all living things.
What is it?: Cellular respiration is how living organisms turn glucose into energy. They need oxygen to do this.
Easy Equation: You can summarize it like this:
Energy Gain: When one glucose molecule is used, it can produce about 36 to 38 energy units (called ATP). This shows how good the process is at getting energy out of food.
Food Connections: Animals eat plants directly, like cows and rabbits (these are called herbivores). Other animals, like lions and eagles (called carnivores), eat the animals that have eaten plants. Plants make up about 85% of the dry weight of living things on land, showing how vital they are to ecosystems.
Energy Flow: When energy moves through food chains, only about 10% of the energy is passed on. This means that herbivores get about 10% of the energy from plants, and carnivores get about 10% of the energy from herbivores. This illustrates how important plants are because they produce the energy that supports other life.
This relationship between plants and animals shows how closely they work together in nature. They need each other to survive and keep the energy flowing.
Animals need plants for energy. This happens through two main processes: photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
What is it?: Photosynthesis is how green plants, algae, and some bacteria turn sunlight into food. They use carbon dioxide (a gas we breathe out) and water to make glucose (a type of sugar) and oxygen (the air we breathe).
Easy Equation: You can think of photosynthesis like this:
Why is it important?: Photosynthesis is very important because it creates about 100 billion tons of food every year on Earth. This food is the basis for food chains, which means it supports all living things.
What is it?: Cellular respiration is how living organisms turn glucose into energy. They need oxygen to do this.
Easy Equation: You can summarize it like this:
Energy Gain: When one glucose molecule is used, it can produce about 36 to 38 energy units (called ATP). This shows how good the process is at getting energy out of food.
Food Connections: Animals eat plants directly, like cows and rabbits (these are called herbivores). Other animals, like lions and eagles (called carnivores), eat the animals that have eaten plants. Plants make up about 85% of the dry weight of living things on land, showing how vital they are to ecosystems.
Energy Flow: When energy moves through food chains, only about 10% of the energy is passed on. This means that herbivores get about 10% of the energy from plants, and carnivores get about 10% of the energy from herbivores. This illustrates how important plants are because they produce the energy that supports other life.
This relationship between plants and animals shows how closely they work together in nature. They need each other to survive and keep the energy flowing.