4.9AB: Producers, Consumers, and Food Webs
Organisms and Environments
Key Concept 1: Producers need sunlight, water, and carbon
dioxide to make (produce) their own food. Consumers
depend on plants or other organisms for food.
Passage
All living things need food. Organisms that make their own food are
called ________________ and capture the energy in sunlight. They
use the energy to make their ______________food. ____________
are producers. Many organisms get energy by ____________ other
organisms. These organisms are called ______________ and do
not make their own food. Scientists classify consumers into three
groups: _________________, carnivores, and omnivores. All
animals are consumers and depend on other organisms for food.
Illustrate an example of a producer and a consumer.
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4.9AB: Producers, Consumers, and Food Webs
Organisms and Environments
Key Concept 2: The Sun provides energy that flows through
food chains and webs. Energy that moves through a food
web originally comes from the Sun.
Passage
All organisms need energy. A plant gets its energy from the _________.
If a grasshopper __________________ the plant, the grasshopper gets
the energy that was stored in the plant. If a shrew eats the grasshopper,
the shrew gets the __________________ that was stored in the
grasshopper’s body. If the hawk eats the shrew, the hawk gets energy.
In this way, energy __________________ from the plant to the
grasshopper, to the shrew, and then to the _________________. This
path of energy from one organism to another is called a
________________________ ________________________. All
organisms are part of an energy chain that begins with the Sun.
Illustrate the food chain described above. Make sure to include
energy arrows.
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4.9AB: Producers, Consumers, and Food Webs
Organisms and Environments
Key Concept 3: We can predict how changes in an ecosystem can
affect the flow of energy in a food web. Changes to an ecosystem,
such as a forest fire, can cause animals to leave and some animals
and plants to perish, which can have an impact on the flow of
energy in a food web.
Passage
Most organisms belong to more than one food chain, which means many
food chains are linked together in a food web. Ecosystems not only
include nonliving things, but also all the _____________ things in a
certain area. The organisms in an ecosystem _________________ with
one another as well as with their nonliving environment. Ecosystems
sometimes change which can affect _________________ the organisms
in the ecosystem. Fires, droughts, and ____________ are all changes
that might damage an ecosystem. These changes can _____________
the food webs of the ecosystem. While changes can harm ecosystems,
time can sometimes heal them.
Illustrate a forest ecosystem before and after a forest fire.
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