Transcript Flow of Energy through Ecosystems

Flow of Energy through
Ecosystems
• Food Chain: A simple diagram of one string of
feeding relationships in an ecosystem, showing
the direction of the transfer of energy in that
system.
Sun
Grass
Rabbit
Soil
Wolf
Bacteria
Producer
• Organisms that make their own food from
inorganic molecules and energy.
– eg. Plants, blue-green algae
– Most accomplish energy building through
photosynthesis
Consumers
• Organisms that cannot make own food.
– eg. all animals, fungi and most bacteria
– Obtain energy by eating other organisms this
process is called cellular respiration
Consumers…
• Primary consumer (10) – eats plants (aka
herbivore)
• Secondary consumer (2o)– eats a primary
consumer
• Tertiary consumer (3o)-eats a secondary
consumer
Consumers cont…
• Omnivores—eat
both producers and
consumers
• Scavenger—
usually don’t hunt live
prey—feed on bodies
of dead organisms
Decomposers
• Bacteria and fungi
that break down
organic material;
essential to
ecosystem health
because they recycle
nutrients back for
producers to reuse.
Food Web
• a group of food
chains showing all of
the feeding
relationships in an
ecosystem.
• Trophic level—a layer
in the feeding relationship
of an ecosystem, one link
in the food chain/web.
Food Web
Sun
Man
Wolf
Sheep
Rabbit
Grass
Flower
Fox
MiceDeer
Bacteria
Carrots
Nutrient Rich Soil
Things to
remember…
•The sun…energy starts here. ALWAYS!
•Decomposers (fungi and bacteria)…energy is
recycled here. ALWAYS!
•Put all the animals on the same trophic level on a
horizontal line (producers together, then primary
consumers, then secondary consumers, etc.)
•Make as many connections between your
organisms as you can. Everything should have at
least one food source and be eaten by at least
one thing.