Ecosystems & Energy Flow
📋 What it is
Energy flows one way through an ecosystem: from the Sun to producers to consumers to decomposers.
🗣️ Coach says
Every ecosystem runs on the Sun. Plants (producers) capture that energy; animals (consumers) pass it along by eating; decomposers recycle the remains. Energy flows ONE direction and shrinks at each step — so ecosystems always need a fresh input of sunlight.
🧠 Memory hook
Sun → producers → consumers → decomposers. Energy flows one way, shrinking each step.
😂 Giggle
What did the sun say to the plant?
"I'm your biggest fan — I give you all my energy!"
😲 Whoa!
Nearly all the energy in every ecosystem on Earth traces back to sunlight captured by plants and algae — even the energy in a lion came from the Sun.
✅ Quick check: What is the original source of energy for almost every ecosystem?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
The Sun — plants capture sunlight, and that energy flows to everything else in the food web.
Sunlight is the base energy input; producers convert it for the whole web.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Trace energy: Sun → grass → rabbit → hawk. At each arrow, most energy is lost as heat.