Answer: Matter and energy are conserved as they pass through a food web.
A food chain is the linear sequence of transfer of food and energy when one organism is fed or consumed by another organism in an ecosystem. A food web is an interconnection of food chains within an ecosystem. In food web, each food chain is dependent upon other food chain for it's food and energy requirements. A food chain comprises of trophic levels according to the type of consumers it exhibit like primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers , tertiary consumers and quaternary consumers. At each trophic level of the food chain matter and energy remain conserved in the form of biomass. This biomass is distributed as an outcome of the overall feeding process between the food chains. Therefore, matter and energy are conserved as they pass through a food web.
When plants do not get enough nitrogen, they are unable to produce amino acids (substances that contain nitrogen and hydrogen and make up many of living cells, muscles and tissue). Without amino acids, plants cannot make the special proteins that the plant cells need to grow.
