​Food Chains

• ​models that show the path that energy takes throughout an ecosystem

• ​more simply: who eats whom

• ​energy is transferred between organisms when they are eaten

​Food Webs

• ​food chains interact to form food webs

• ​organisms are usually part of more than one food chain - have more than one preadtor or prey

• ​food webs show all feeding relationships in an ecosystem

​Producer, consumer, or decomposer?

• ​organisms are one of the three in each food chain

• ​food chains always start with a producer

• ​consumers can be primary, secondary, or tertiary

• ​decomposers are really the 'final consumers'

​Producer

• ​an organism that produces their own food/energy

• ​starts the food chains

• ​mostly plant life

Producer

Also known as an autotroph.

Makes its own food.

​Consumers

• ​organisms that gains energy by consuming other organisms

• ​Primary = organisms that eat producers

• ​Secondary = organisms that eat primary consumers

• ​Tertiary = organisms that eat secondary organisms

• ​Those at the top of the food chain (i.e. have no predators) are called apex predators

Consumers

Anything that consumes or eats food to get energy.

Also known as a heterotroph.

​Decomposers

• ​organisms that gain energy by breaking down dead material (plants or animals)

• ​generally bacteria or fungi

• ​put back nutrients into the soil to help producers grow

Trophic levels

Count from the bottom up

Energy Transformation

The higher up you go, the less energy is available.