Download - Energy in Ecosystems
Food Chains • Food Chain
• What do food chains show?
• What do the arrows represent?
• A series of events in which one organism eats another and obtains energy.
• Food chains show the transfer of energy in an ecosystem
• The arrows represent the transfer of energy.
• What do food chains start with?
• What type of organism is after the sun?
• Describe photosynthesis.
• Almost all Food Chains start with the sun
• After the sun is an organism that can do photosynthesis. Like plants and phytoplankton.
• Sunlight + Carbon Dioxide + Water = Energy – This process is called
Photosynthesis
• Sample food chains:
• Sun →milkweed → aphid →ladybug →bird → mushroom
• Sun → grass → zebra → lion → vulture
• Sun → seeds → grasshopper→ mouse → hawk
• THE ARROWS SHOW THE DIRECTION THAT THE ENERGY MOVES.
• Producers • An organism that can make its own food . They use carbon dioxide, water and sunlight to make energy, through a process called photosynthesis. Producers are the source of all food in an ecosystem. Without producers there is no food chain.
Phytoplankton
Flowers
Tree
• Decomposers • Organisms that break down wastes and dead organisms and return the raw materials to the environment.
• Two major groups of decomposers are: –Bacteria –Fungi.
• Consumers
• 3 types of Consumers
• An organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms.
• Ex: Deer, Humans, Snakes, Bat, Cat, Hippopotamus, Cricket, Rabbit
• Herbivores, Omnivores and Carnivores
• Food Chain Game
• 3 types of consumers
• Carnivores
• Herbivores, Carnivores, and Omnivores
• Consumers that eat ONLY other consumers.( Meat -Eaters)
• Ex: T-rex, Tigers, Lions, Ladybugs, Spiders.
• Herbivores • Herbivores are consumers that eat only producers. (plant eaters)
• Ex: Butterflies, deer,
elephants, giraffes, mice.
• Omnivores • Consumers that eat BOTH consumers and producers. (both meat eaters and plant eaters)
• Ex. Humans,
Bearded Dragons, Turtles, Bears.
• Sample food chains with energy roles labeled:
Sun →milkweed → aphid →ladybug →bird → mushroom producer 1st consumer 2nd consumer 3rd consumer Decomposer herbivore Carnivore Omnivore
• Sun → grass → zebra → lion → vulture producer 1st consumer 2nd con. 3rd consumer herbivore carnivore scavenger
• Food Webs • A Food Webs consists of many overlapping food chains in an ecosystem.
• It better represents the transfer of energy than a food chain.
• In nature animals eat more than just one type of food
• Energy Pyramid • An Energy Pyramid shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web.
• The most energy is at the producer level. At each level there is less available energy.
• Energy is lost as heat at each level
