Energy Transfer Through Ecosystems
Virginia SOL EC.3
Investigate how energy is transferred through ecosystems and the role of thermodynamics.
What students need to be able to do
- Explain how the laws of thermodynamics govern energy transfers through ecosystems.
- Explain how changes in ecosystem factors affect energy transfer and ecological efficiency in a local ecosystem.
- Make, support, and evaluate a claim about how strategies organisms use to acquire energy lead to biodiversity within ecosystems.
- Make, support, and evaluate a claim about how nutrient cycling by decomposers affects energy transfer in ecosystems.