Summary:
- Living things need nonliving matter as well as energy.
- Carbon and nitrogen are examples of nutrients.
- Unlike energy, matter is recycled in ecosystems.
- Decomposers release nutrients when they break down dead organisms.
- nutrients are taken up by plants through their roots.
- nutrients pass to primary consumers when they eat the plants.
- When living things die, the cycle repeats.
- Nutrients can enter or exit an ecosystem at any point and can cycle around the planet.
- Use the resource below to answer the questions that follow.