Question

Plants produce carbohydrates for themselves through the process of photosynthesis. Which cycle is carried out when these carbohydrates are passed on along the food chain to animals and other consumers?

Answer 1

Photosynthesis is the process of converting light energy to chemical energy and storing it in the bonds of sugar. This process occurs in plants and some algae (Kingdom Protista). Plants need only light energy, CO2, and H2O to make sugar. The process of photosynthesis takes place in the chloroplasts, specifically using chlorophyll, the green pigment involved in photosynthesis.

Heterophic nutrition.according to lindemann's 10% law,the food taken from a source to a consumer only 10% of actual mass is used for gaining energy,this carbohydrate produced by anabolic photosynthetic process turned as energy by breaking down in respiration,a catabolic process and used as energy source to the consumer.If you are referring to how it gets metabolized, then the main carbohydrate that animals take up is glucose, and glucose is digested by the process of glycolysis followed generally by the Krebs cycle and the electron transfer chain (ideally it's this way). After glycolysis there are many other pathways that could be taken since Acetyl-CoA can be used for various purposes. I told you the most general path, but it might be different. I hope this helps. I see there are multiple answers but everyone is right in what they mean.