Name: ____________________________ Date: _______________________ Per: ____

Notes: Producers, Consumers, Decomposers & Food Chain

A. A vital part of an ecosystem is the stability of its __Producers___ and __Decomposers____.

Producers are:___Organisms that produce their own food using energy from sunlight

or chemical compounds. e.g. Bean plants, venus fly trap, grass, daisies, algae,

trees, cyanobacteria.

Decomposers are: Organisms that break down dead plant and animal organic matter.

e.g. Fungus, bacteria, mites, crabs, worms, maggots, mushrooms.

Consumers are: Organisms that rely on eating other organisms for energy. e.g.

Humans, dogs, bears, cats, fish, sharks, chinchilla, ants, koalas, panda, monkeys.

B. All three of these can best be viewed in a

Simple __food chains__:

Producers are also called _primary__ Producers. The

organisms which eat Producers are called

__primary__ (1°) __consumer__. The

__secondary__ (2°) consumer eats the Primary

consumer. The __tertiary_ (3°) consumer eats the

secondary consumer and so forth. Lastly, the

__decomposer_ will break down all cells within

dead organisms into elements that will be returned to

the soil.

UNIT – Ecology

C. If one individual in a given food chain die or is

removed from the ecosystem for some reason,

other organisms and populations can be

affected. Like a house of cards, if the ones at

the _bottom_ are removed, then the ones above

may also __collapse_. What might happen to

the species in this food chain if the small fish

are over hunted in a local marine ecosystem?

_____________________

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D. Draw a food chain that includes at least 1 producer & 2 consumers: