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Question
in an ecosystem, organisms use up chemical energy. what is most of the energy then lost to the environment as? heat photons light
In an ecosystem, during energy transfer between organisms (like in food chains/webs), when organisms use chemical energy (e.g., from respiration), the second law of thermodynamics dictates that energy is lost as heat due to the inefficiency of energy conversions (e.g., cellular respiration releases heat). Photons are related to light energy (like in photosynthesis input), and light is not the primary form energy is lost as in ecosystem energy use. So the energy is mostly lost as heat.
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