5.9B (R) - Science
Food Chains and Food Webs
5.9(B)
PRODUCERS
- Plants are called producers because they create their own food through photosynthesis using energy from the Sun.
- Producers are the plants in the ecosystem.
- The plants provide oxygen for all animals.
- They also provide food for herbivores
CONSUMERS
- Animals are called consumers, because they cannot make their own food. They need to consume (eat) plants and/or animals to survive.
- Include all of the animals in the ecosystem.
- Animals provide the plants with carbon dioxide needed for photosynthesis.
- Some consumers also help plants reproduce.
- For example the PLANT SEEDS can stick to animals and be taken to a new location and deposited.
DECOMPOSERS
Decomposers and scavengers break down dead plants and animals. They also break down the waste (poop) of other organisms. Decomposers are very important for any ecosystem. If they weren't in the ecosystem, the plants would not get essential nutrients, and dead matter and waste would pile up.
There are two kinds of decomposers, scavengers and decomposers.
Scavengers are animals that find dead animals or plants and eat them. While they eat them, they break them into small bits. In this simulation, flies, wasps and cockroaches are scavengers.Earthworms are also scavengers, but they only break down plants.
Once a scavenger is done, the decomposers take over, and finish the job. Many kinds of decomposers are microscopic, meaning that they can't be seen without a microscope. Others, like fungi, can be seen.
How does the energy transfer to from one organism to the next?
(See how energy is transferred in the food chains pictured above and below)
The original source of energy is the SUN. Sometimes it is pictured in the food chain sometimes it is not.
FOOD CHAINS START WITH THE PRODUCER and move to the other consumers
Ticket out the Door
- List the producers
- List the consumers
- List the herbivores
- List the omnivores
- List the carnivores
- What are the top level consumers?
- Where are the decomposers?