Some organisms obtain energy and nutrients from plants in an ecosystem. these organisms have energy stored in their bodies. what happens to the energy in the ecosystem when the organisms die? some is used by decomposers, and some is released into the environment as heat. energy from the organisms is destroyed along with the nutrients they contained. bacteria release energy from the dead organisms in the form of radiant energy. the total amount of energy in the universe decreases at the moment the organisms die.  nextreset