Food Chains and Food Webs Ecology and Ecosystems 6.L.2.1

What is a Food Chain?  A food chain is a way to look at the energy that passes from producers to consumers

What makes a Food Chain?  Producers  Consumers  Decomposers

Plants: a.k.a. “Producers”  Plants are called Autotrophs because they create their own food through photosynthesis  Autotrophs are also called Producers because they produce all of the food that heterotrophs eat.  Without producers, there would be no life on this planet!  ough photosynthesis 3

Autotrophs/Producers

Consumers  Consumers hunt, gather, and store food because they cannot make their own.  Animals are consumers because they cannot create their own food, they must eat plants or other animals to get the energy that they need.

Three Types of Consumers  Herbivores  Carnivores  Omnivores

 Are primary consumers  Animals who eat only plants such as: – grasshoppers – rabbits – squirrels – deer – pandas

 Animals who only eat other animals such as: – tigers – lions – hawks – wolves – cougars

 Animals who eat both plants and animals such as: – humans – bears

 Microorganisms that break down (eat) dead plants and animals to simpler forms of matter.  Decomposers return nutrients that were in a living thing back to the soil  Ex. Fungi, bacteria

Let’s Look at a  A food chain is a way to look at the energy that passes from producers to consumers.

Types of Food Chains  Aquatic- Water-related food chains with sea plants and animals  Terrestrial- Land-related food chains with land plants and animals video

Predator & Prey  Predator- An animal that captures and eats other animals  Prey- The animal that is captured and eaten

What is a Food Web?  A way of looking at the relationship of all plants and animals in an ecosystem  A web has several food chains linked together  A predator from one food chain may be linked to the prey of another food chain

Food Webs  How many food chains can you make from this food web?

An energy pyramid is a graphical model of a food chain in a community. The different levels represent different groups of organisms that might compose a food chain. From the bottom-up energy is lost with each level.

Energy Pyramid notes Tape tape

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