Energy Flow

In almost all ecosystems, photo synthesizers are the only “gateway” for energy to flow into food webs (networks of organisms that eat one another). If photo synthesizers were removed, the flow of energy would be cut off, and the other organisms would run out of food. In this way, photo synthesizers lay the foundation for every light-receiving ecosystem.

Producers are the Energy Gateway

• Plants, algae, and photosynthetic bacteria act as producers. Producers are autotrophs, or “self-feeding” organisms, that make their own organic molecules from carbon dioxide.
• Photo autotrophs like plants use light energy to build sugars out of carbon dioxide. ....