ECOSYSTEMS

Producers have the ability to generate their own sources of energy. The sun is not considered a producer. Consumers must get their energy from an outside source through eating.

Food chains are a linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another. Food webs on the other hand, show all the trophic eating related interactions between various species in an ecosystem.

Species richness is the number of different species in a particular community. Species diversity is a function of both the number of different species in the community(species richness) and their relative abundances(species evenness).