feeding relationships
DESCRIPTION
Feeding Relationships. Give Me Energy or Give Me Death!!! (not quite Patrick Henry). All organisms need energy to live. 3 Types of Organisms Producers Consumers Decomposers. Producers. Organisms that make their own food using energy from the sun (photosynthesis) or by other means. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Give Me Energy or Give Me Death!!!(not quite Patrick Henry)
• All organisms need energy to live.• 3 Types of Organisms
– Producers– Consumers– Decomposers
Producers
• Organisms that make their own food using energy from the sun (photosynthesis) or by other means.
• Ex. Plants, algae, some bacteria
Consumers
• Any organism that gets its food by eating other organisms.
• Types of Consumers– Herbivores
• Plant eaters• Ex. Rabbit
– Carnivores• Meat-eaters• Eat herbivores or other carnivores• Ex. Shark, wolves• Scavengers: eat dead things
Consumers
• Types of Consumers– Omnivores
• Eat both producers and other consumers
• Ex. Raccoon, bears, most people
Decomposers
• Organisms that feed on the remains or wastes of other organisms.
• Recycle the nutrients back into the soil• Often left out of food chain• Ex. Bacteria and fungi
Food Chain
• Traces the path of energy as it moves from one organism to the next in an ecosystem.
• Shows only 1 energy path in an ecosystem.
Notice how all energy begins with the SUN
Producer=Photosynthesis
Consumers
Food Chain Terminology
• Producer– Photosynthetic organism that gets energy from sun.
• Primary Consumer (1°)– First to feed.– Herbivore– Most energy gets used, some gets lost as heat, and
some gets passed onto the secondary consumer.• Secondary Consumer (2°)
– Eats the primary consumer (herbivore)– Carnivore, omnivore, or scavenger
Food Chain
• Tertiary Consumer (3°)– Eats the 2° consumer
• Decomposer– Eats the remains of
the consumers.– Obtains the little
energy that is left from the consumers.
Food Web
• A system of several overlapping food chains.• Provides a more complete picture of the flow of
energy in an ecosystem.
Prickly PearCactus
Mesquite
Producers
First-levelConsumers
Second-levelConsumers
Third-levelConsumers
DesertCottontail
Woodrat
Weasel
BobcatHawk
Energy Flow
• As energy is passed from organism to organism it is used to carry out cell processes and some is lost to the environment as heat.
• 10% Rule– Only about 10% of the energy present at one feeding
level is passed to the next feeding level.• Energy Pyramid
– Another way of showing the transfer of energy from one level to the next.
Energy Pyramids Show
• That the amount of available energy decreases down the food chain
• It takes a large number of producers to support a small number of primary consumers
• It takes a large number of primary consumers to support a small number of secondary consumers
Summary Questions
• Name the three energy roles of organisms in an ecosystem. How does each type of organism obtain energy?
• How does the amount of available energy change from one level of an energy pyramid to the next level up?
• Name and define the four types of consumers.• What is the source of energy for most ecosystems?• Why are food webs a more realistic way of portraying
ecosystems than food webs?