1. Food Chains

2. What is a food chain?
A food chain is a diagram that shows how each living organism gets its food

3. Food Chain Arrows show the movement of energy through the food chain.
Arrows always point in the direction of the energy movement!!

5. In the Beginning
All food chains begin with the Sun

6. Producers
Producers are able to use the energy from the Sun to produce food.

7. Plants are producers

8. Consumers
Animals that cannot make their own food are called consumers.
Consumers must eat plants and/or other animals

9. Types of Consumers
There are three groups of consumers in a food chain

10. Primary Consumer
Primary Consumers - Animals that eat only plants (herbivores)

11. Secondary Consumer
Carnivores that eat the primary consumers (herbivores).

12. Tertiary Consumers
Carnivores that eat other carnivores

13. Decomposers
Breaks down dead organisms, returning nutrients to the soil
Example: Bacteria and fungi
Decomposers are shown outside of the food chain

14. Food Chain Review
A food chain is a diagram that shows how each organism gets it’s food.
Arrows show the flow of energy

15. What’s Next?
Food webs describe the organisms found in interconnecting food chains using pictures or words and arrows.
In other words, food webs are a bunch of food chains all together!

18. Putting it All Together!
Each Level In A Food Chain or Food Web is a Trophic Level.
Producers
Always The First Trophic Level
How Energy Enters The System
Herbivores
Second Trophic Level
Carnivores/Omnivores
Make Up The Remaining Trophic Levels
Each level depends on the one below it for energy.

19. Making Sense of Trophic Levels
An energy pyramid shows the amount of energy that moves from one trophic level to another in a food chain.
The most energy is available at the producer level of the pyramid.
The availability of energy decreases as it moves up the energy pyramid.

20. Ecological Pyramids
Graphic Representations of Energy or Matter At Each Trophic Level
May be:
Energy Pyramid
Biomass Pyramid
Pyramid of Numbers

21. Energy Flow in Ecosystems
Ecological Pyramids
Energy Pyramids – shows the relative amount of energy available at each trophic level.
Biomass Pyramid- shows the amount of living organic matter at each trophic level.
Pyramid of Numbers- shows the number of individual organisms at each trophic level in an ecosystem.
January 18, 2019
Energy Flow in Ecosystems

22. copyright cmassengale
Energy Pyramid
copyright cmassengale

23. Energy Flow in Ecosystems
Energy Pyramid
Tertiary consumers
Secondary consumers
Primary consumers
Producers
10 kcal
100 kcal
1,000 kcal
10,000 kcal
January 18, 2019
Energy Flow in Ecosystems

24. Energy Transfer – Trophic Levels
Steps in the transfer of energy throughout an ecosystem.
Each time energy is transferred, less of it is available to organisms at the next trophic level (10%).

25. Biomass Pyramid

26. Pyramid of Numbers

28. The most energy is at the producer level – the base of the pyramid.

30. The Energy Pyramid