Both consumers and producers perform cellular respiration because this process is essential for converting the chemical energy stored in glucose into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the usable form of energy for cells. Cellular respiration allows both consumers (like animals) and producers (like plants) to release energy from glucose to fuel their cellular activities and life functions. In more detail, producers (plants) create glucose through photosynthesis, but they still perform cellular respiration to convert that glucose into ATP. Consumers obtain glucose by consuming other organisms and then perform cellular respiration to extract energy from that glucose. ATP generated through cellular respiration is critical for driving processes such as biosynthesis, movement, and molecular transport in both producers and consumers. Thus, the best explanation is that both consumers and producers perform cellular respiration because it is the process of releasing the energy stored in glucose to generate ATP, which is necessary for all cellular activities.