What happens to the energy captured by producers through photosynthesis?

• A. Energy captured by producers is stored in glucose and passed to consumers; some is lost as heat.
• B. It is converted directly into ATP for immediate use by all consumers.
• C. It is stored as chemical energy in glucose and passed to consumers.
• D. It remains in producers and is not transferred.

Answer: (C)

Photosynthesis converts light energy into chemical energy stored in glucose, a molecule plants keep as stored energy. When animals eat plants, they take in that chemical energy—the energy is transferred as chemical energy in the molecules the consumer ingests. Some of the energy stored in glucose will be used for the organism’s activities and respiration, and a portion is released as heat, so not all of it makes it to the next trophic level. This is why energy from the sun ends up as chemical energy in glucose and then moves to consumers through feeding, with heat loss accounting for the rest.