PRODUCERS (think plants)
Definition: Living things that produce (or make/create) their own food and feed primary
consumers. They get energy primarily from the Sun.
Facts:
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Other things eat them for food
Near the start of the energy flow on a food chain
Mostly Plants
Most get their energy from the Sun
Producers convert the sun’s energy into organic matter through photosynthesis.
They don’t eat other living things
Decomposers decompose (or breakdown) dead organisms turning that into substances
that are rich in nutrients (like soil) – and the Producers get energy from these
substances. Soil helps plants grow!
Examples: some plankton, grass, plants, trees, flowers, fruit and vegetable plants
CONSUMERS
Definition: Consumers cannot make their own food. They eat other living things.
Facts:
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They eat producers, and some eat other consumers
Most consumers are Animals (mammals, reptiles, insects, aquatic, etc.)
There are a few carnivorous plants that consume
Can’t make their own food – can’t produce
3 types of consumers: omnivore, carnivore, herbivore
They can CONSUME plants and animals
Examples: lions, Venus flytraps, humans, sharks, deer, butterflies, bees, hippos, bear
DECOMPOSERS
Definition: Decomposers break down dead organisms and the waste of living things.
Facts:
 Most are fungi, bacteria, worms
 Producers and consumers produce waste and become waste organic matter when
they die – and the DECOMPOSERS use those organic waste materials to fuel their life
process and recycle nutrients that are necessary for producers to carry on their life
processes.
Examples: mushrooms, bacteria, worms
3 TYPES OF CONSUMERS
HERBIVORE
Definition: Consumers that only eat plants.
Facts:
 Plant eaters (vegans)
 Usually are consumed by carnivores/omnivores
Examples: caterpillars, cows, donkeys, mules, deer, some birds, elephants,
CARNIVORE
Definition: Consumers that only eat meat (other animals).
Facts:
 Meat eaters
 Eat other animals
 Usually predators
Examples: lions, sharks, alligators, wild cats, wolves, spiders?, raptors, snakes
OMNIVORE
Definition: Consumers that consume plants and meat (combo of carnivore & herbivore)
Facts:
 Eat plants and animals
 Both CARNIvore and HERBIvore
 Humans are omnivores
Examples: humans, domestic animals (pets: dogs, cats),
FOOD CHAINS / FOOD WEBS
It’s all about WHERE DOES THE ENERGY FLOW? The arrows point to WHERE the energy goes.
FOOD CHAIN: is a straight line (like a chain) of energy flow from one organism to another
FOOD WEB: is a connection of Food Chains that form a complex “web” (like spider web) of
energy flow
FOOD WEBS
REMEMBER: The ARROWS point to where the energy goes.
From a frog the arrow will point TO the hawk – because the hawk gets energy from the frog
when it eats the frog!
FROG
 HAWK
From the plant the arrow will point TO the rabbit – because the rabbit gets energy from the
plant when it eats the plant!
PLANT
 RABBIT
In all the different Ecosystems in the world…There are hundreds of different Food Webs from
the thousands of Food Chains! All those different plants and animals belong somewhere in a
Food Web – and humans are part of it too!
ENERGY PYRAMID
An energy pyramid is a graphical model of energy flow in a community. The different
levels represent different groups of organisms that might compose a food chain.
From the bottom-up, they are as follows:
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Producers — bring energy from nonliving sources into the community
Primary consumers — eat the producers, which makes them herbivores in most
communities
Secondary consumers — eat the primary consumers, which makes them carnivores
Tertiary consumers — eat the secondary consumers
Why are energy pyramids shaped the way they are?
An energy pyramid’s shape shows how the amount of useful energy that enters each level
— chemical energy in the form of food — decreases as it is used by the organisms in that
level.
The consumers at the top of a food pyramid, as a group, have much less energy available
to support them than those closer to the bottom. That’s why their numbers are relatively
few in most communities. Eventually, the amount of useful energy left can’t support
another level. That’s why energy flow is depicted in the shape of a pyramid. The energy
that enters a community is ultimately lost to the living world as heat.
EVERY LEVEL up from the bottom of the Energy Pyramid only
gets 10% of the energy from what it consumed.
100% to PRODUCERS
Producers get the most – 100%! (mostly from the Sun)
10% to PRIMARY CONSUMERS
Primary Consumers get 10% of that 100%
1% to SECONDARY CONSUMERS
Secondary Consumers get 10% of that 10%
or 1% of the original 100%
0.1% to TERTIARY CONSUMERS
Tertiary Consumers get 10% of that 1%
Or 0.1% of the original 100%
INTERCONNECTED RELATIONSHIPS
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All organisms in an ecosystem have interconnected relationships. They all rely
on each other for a balance of nature!
Factors that impact one population within an ecosystem may impact other
populations within that ecosystem.
If one organism changes – that affects everything!
If a certain organism’s population increases (goes up), then other populations
will change also, either increasing or decreasing depending on their connection
with the increasing population. And the opposite is true – if a certain
population Decreases (goes Down) then others will also change in numbers, up
or down.
If the population of rabbits Decreases (goes Down) in an ecosystem – that will
allow the plants those rabbits feed on to increase in growth – and it decreases
the population of predators that eat the rabbit for their survival.
o Just like the game Oh Deer that we played –
o if the resources are low, then deer population decreases –
o if resources are high, then the deer population increases.
o If the deer population is high, then the wolf population increases
because they have more food to eat – but if wolves eat too much deer,
then they eventually suffer for over-eating their food.
ABIOTIC (non-living things) effects
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Even if abiotic elements are changed (like the amount of water/precipitation,
the climate, the temperature, the shape of the land, etc) – this can affect
everything and disrupt the balance, threatening the survival of many organisms.
Natural disasters can change an ecosystem significantly enough to threaten all
of the life in that ecosystem. Human activities (deforestation, building roads,
building other structures, rerouting rivers, putting up dams, digging, reshaping
mountains, etc) can also threaten the wild life in an ecosystems.
Some ecosystems are so unique that these threats not only affect their survival
in that ecosystem, but may result in total extinction of certain species of
organisms.
SOURCES:
http://www.ducksters.com/science/ecosystems/world_biomes.php
http://www.mbgnet.net/index.html
https://www.ck12.org/user%3Aynjpyw4ubwfjy2fyzwxsaubiy3nlbwfpbc5vcmc./book/Buncombe-CountySchools-5th-Grade-Science-Flexbook/r198/section/7.4/
http://hub.rockyview.ab.ca/mod/book/view.php?id=3409&chapterid=3205
http://seniorscience.wikifoundry.com/page/Pyramid+of+energy
https://www.learner.org/courses/essential/life/session7/closer5.html