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