Vocabulary:
  • Consumer – an organism that eats other organisms (plants and / or animals) for food
  • Decomposer – an organism that gets energy by feeding on dead materials and waste
  • Dependent – to rely on someone or something else
  • Ecosystem – the living and nonliving components of an area
  • Food chain – a representation of the flow of energy from the Sun through producers to consumers and decomposers in an ecosystem
  • Food web – a representation of several overlapping food chains in an ecosystem; includes the flow of energy from the Sun through producers to consumers and decomposers through multiple pathways
  • Habitat – the place where an organism lives; habitats supply the organism with food, shelter, moisture, and temperature for survival
  • Model – a picture, an idea, or an object that represents an object, a system, or a process and is used to help with understanding; models have advantages and limitations
  • Producer – an organism that makes its own food (e.g., plants)
                                               NEEDS OF PRODUCERS AND CONSUMERS TO MAKE / OBTAIN FOOD


  • Producers (plants) use the following to make their own food:
    • Sunlight (energy)
    • Water
    • Carbon dioxide (gas in the air)
    • Plants take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen
  • Consumers’ (animals) dependence on other organisms for food
    • Animals eat animals and / or plants
      • Herbivores – animals that feed only on producers (plants)
      • Carnivores – animals that feed only on other animals
      • Omnivores – animals that feed on plants or other animals
    • Predator / prey relationships
FLOW OF ENERGY THROUGH FOOD WEBS
  • Food web – a representation of several overlapping food chains in an ecosystem; includes the flow of energy from the Sun through producers to consumers and decomposers through multiple pathways
    • Producer – an organism that makes its own food (e.g., plants)
    • Consumer – an organism that eats other organisms (plants and / or animals) for food
    • Decomposer – an organism that gets energy by feeding on dead materials and waste
    • Flow of energy (beginning with the Sun)
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