Producer Life Cycle Part I – Food Chains and Webs Decomposer Consumer

All around our world there are different places in which creatures live. Now these different places are called ecosystems.

Ecosystem defined

Environment defined

A habitat is an environment that meets the needs of an organism.

Within these habitats each creature has a job to do Within these habitats each creature has a job to do. The role that a creature has in a habitat is called a Niche.

For example snakes like to eat mice For example snakes like to eat mice. This is the snakes niche in his habitat.

Within a habitat there is a flow of energy from one creature to another. This flow of energy is called a food chain.

The Sun is a very important first step in this food chain.

Animals don’t get there energy directly from the sun, but all plants do. Some animals eat plants, and other animals eat animals that eat plants.

The first link in our food chain is called the Producers The first link in our food chain is called the Producers. Green plants, protists and monerans are called producers, because they make their own food.

The second group is the consumers The second group is the consumers. Consumers eat other living things for energy.

The third group is the Decomposers The third group is the Decomposers. These creatures feed on the wastes of plants and animals or on their remains after they die. They return the nutrients to the soil for plants to use as the cycle begins again.

A food chain is a direct link of living creatures where the creature above uses the one below for food.

A basic food chain might look like this.

But food chains tend to over lap But food chains tend to over lap. For instance the bunny rabbit eats a variety of plants, such as grass, vegetables in your garden, plant bulbs, etc.

There are many other kinds of animals that eat these plants other then rabbits. Mice, squirrels, and deer all eat only vegetation for their source of energy.

Likewise there is more than one creature that preys on rabbits for its food. Snakes, owls, and wolves also eat rabbits as a part of their diet.

When food chains connect and overlap it is called a food web.

Quiz Time 1) What kind of creature feeds on dead things? Decomposers 2) What kind of creature eats other living things for energy? Consumers 3) What kind of creature makes its own food? Producers 4) When food chains overlap they are called what? A Food Web