Do you know how much energy your body need,

Children between 10 and 12 years of age need a

minimum of 2,200 Calories each day, although the

number varies depending on other factors. A Calorie

is a unit of energy. All foods supply energy. The labels

on packaged foods list the number of Calories in each

serving. They also list ingredients and nutrients in

the food.

The minimum energy needed by living things changes

depending on body size and activity level. An elephant, fr

example, needs 70,000 Calories each day. A hummingbird

may only need 7 Calories. This may seem like a small

amount, but it is actually quite a lot of energy for such a

small bird. If humans were as active as hummingbirds, we

would need 155,000 Calories each day!

Calculate Why might an elephant need so many more

Calories than a hummingbird?

How do animals get

energy from the sur?

scientists develop models of interactions in ecosystems. How can you

develop a model to show how animals get the energy they need?

Plants and Energy

All living beings need energy from food. Plants get food by

making it. They use matter from the environment and thé

energy of sunlight to build food molecules such as sugars

or starch. These molecules store chemical energy. Starch

is a long chain of sugar molecules. As plants perform life

processes, they break down starch and sugars to release

energy. Plants must continually replace the food molecules

they use. This is why plants that do not get enough time in

the sun each day do not stay healthy.

Not all the sugars a plant produces are used as food. Plants

use some sugars along with other materials that the plant

gets from the soil, to make plant parts. The amount of energy

in the sugars a plant produces is less than the amount of

energy the plant receives from the sun.

All plants use energy to grow, reproduce, and perform

other activities. Some species of bamboo, for example, can

grow almost 1 meter (3 feet) in one day! While plants may

look very different, they all have structures to support the

production and distribution of food molecules. Many have

leaves or other broad, green surfaces to capture sunlight

and exchange gases with the air.

Infer Seeds, which contain a young plant, usually begin to

sprout below ground, where there is little sunlight. What

else do you think is inside seeds? Why do you think this?

Animals and Energy

Animals cannot make their own food, so they must eat to get

energy. When animals eat plants, their body breaks down the

molecules of the plant's body to obtain energy and nutrients.

Like plants, animals use some food molecules for energy and

others to make body parts. All living organisms use and store

chemical energy.

Different kinds of animals eat different kinds of food. The

grasshopper in the photo is a herbivore. A herbivore eats

inly plants. Deer, giraffes, and bees are herbivores. Plant

material can be difficult to digest. Many herbivores have

complex digestive systems to help them break down food.

A carnivore is an animal that feeds on animals or products

animals make, such as eggs. Some examples of carnivores

are tigers, wolves, snakes, and sharks. Carnivores have sharp

teeth to catch and eat their prey.

An omnivore is an animal that eats both plants and

animals, Some omnivores you might know are pigs and some

birds. These animals have structures that allow them to eat

both types of food.

What is a trophie level?

Trophic levels sort animals and plants according to where they

are in the food chain and how they obtain energy. This pyramid

diagram shows four trophic levels in a prairie ecosystem.

Energy flows through each level, from bottom to top. Some

energy is used along the way. The levels get narrower toward

the top to show that less and less energy is left.

Secondary consumers

eat primary consumers.

They convert and store

about 10 percent of

the energy from

animals they eat. The

other 90 percent is

used or transformed

and released as heat.

Tertiary consumers convert

and store about 10 percent of

the energy from the secondary

consumer animals they eat.

The other 90 percent is

used or transformed.

Primary consumers

eat plants. They

convert and store

about 10 percent of

the energy they

obtain from plants.

The other 90

percent is used for

life processes

or released as heat.

Plants are producers, which means they

make their own food through photosynthesis.

Plants are able to use only about 11 percent

of the solar energy they receive during food

production.

Salah, [9/8/2023 2:00 PM]

Energy Paths to the Sun

All the energy in the food you, and other animals, eat can be

traced back to the sun. Sometimes that path is not easy to see

An example is an egg. An egg comes from a chicken. When a

chicken produces an egg, some of the energy and matter store-

in the chicken passes to the egg. Chickens on many farms

eat the food a farmer feeds them. The food comes in different
shapes, such as pellets or grains. So how can the chemical

energy in an egg be traced back to the sun?

The food that farmers feed their chickens contains ingredients

such as alfalfa, corn, peas, wheat, or oats. All of these

ingredients are plants or come from plants. The plants used

energy from the sun to make the food that they stored in their

body. That energy is then stored in the food that the farmer

feeds the chickens.

Salah, [9/8/2023 2:01 PM]

Sorting Foods

plants and animals use the energy and matter that are released when

food molecules are broken down. They use the energy and matter to

build molecules that their bodies need to carry out life processes. Look at

the foods on the grocery shopping list. Decide whether each item on the

list comes from plants or animals. Write the name of the food item in the

correct column of the table

Ainitesps

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Shopping list

turkey

lemon

chicken breast

eggs

salmon

herbs

shrimp

tuna

berries
almonds

low-fat milk

veggies

garlic

fruits

Plant products

Animal products