1. The Complex Food Web

3. Sun  The sun is the original source of energy on earth.

4. Producers / Autotrophs  Producers, also called autotrophs, are organisms that can make their own food.  Producers use photosynthesis to make their food and then they use respiration to break it down.

5. Consumers / Heterotrophs  Consumers, also called heterotrophs, cannot make their own food and must get it from somewhere else.  Consumers use respiration to break down their food.  There are many different types of consumers.

6. Primary Consumer / Herbivore  Primary consumers are the first consumer. They eat the producers.  Eating producers means you are most likely a herbivore, an organism that only eats plants.  What primary consumer would NOT be a herbivore?

7. Secondary Consumer / Canivore or Omnivore  A secondary consumer eats the primary consumers.  This means they are carnivore or an omnivore. At some point in time they eat meat or a mixture of meat and veggies.

8. Energy Dissipation  As you get higher on the food chain you need to eat more to get enough energy from the food because energy dissipates.

9. Scavenger  A scavenger is a type of consumer that searches about for scraps and left over food to eat.

10. Decomposer  Decomposers are consumers that eat dead or decaying matter.  Decomposers chemically break down their food into smaller pieces called detritus.  Decomposers are very important to the environment because they help recycle materials back to the earth.

11. Detritivore  A detritivore is a type of decomposer that eats the detritus and breaks it down even smaller.

12. Coprovore  Coprovores are another type of decomposer that eats feces.  Pigs often were fed horse feces but it passes along bacteria that can cause contamination.  Cattle in the US are often fed chicken litter because it is high in protein.

13. Coprovores 2  Some species need to re-digest their food because they can not get enough nutrients from it on the first pass through. Hamsters, capybara, rabbits are examples.  Some species eat their mother’s feces to get the bacteria they need in their intestines. Elephants, pandas, koalas, hippos.  Many coprovores eat feces to get more nutrients from it like vitamins that bacteriain the lower intestines produced or to get extra salt content.

14. Coprovores 3  Some coprovores may eat their feces to cover a scent so predators don’t attack them or their young. Mother cats.

15. Different?  Venus fly traps are carnivores and producers!

16. Energy Requirements  Notice the amount of food sources you need as you get higher up on the food chain.

17. Energy Dissipation

18. Missing Link?  What happens if a part is removed from a food web system?