Which term describes the flow of energy from producers to consumers in an ecosystem?

• A. Niche
• B. Food chain
• C. Biomass
• D. Food web

Answer: (B)

Energy moves through an ecosystem in a simple sequence from the organisms that make their own food to those that eat them. Producers like plants capture sunlight and store that energy as chemical energy. Primary consumers obtain energy by eating producers, and higher-level consumers get energy by eating other animals. This straightforward path is described as a food chain, showing how energy passes from one trophic level to the next. A food web, by contrast, maps many interconnected feeding relationships, biomass refers to the total mass of living things, and a niche is the role a species plays in its environment. So, the term that describes the flow of energy from producers to consumers is the food chain.