Producers & Energy
The process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create food.
Photosynthesis
An organism that obtains energy by eating other living organisms.
Consumer
Organisms like bacteria and fungi that break down dead material and return nutrients to the soil.
Decomposers
An interconnected network of multiple overlapping food chains in an ecosystem.
Food Web
The primary source of energy for almost all food webs and ecosystems on Earth.
Sun
An animal that eats only plants to survive.
Herbivore
The nutrient-rich material created when organic matter is broken down by decomposers.
Compost
They provide oxygen.
Producers
An animal that hunts and eats other animals for food.
Carnivore
Whey does an ecosystem need decomposers?
To break down the dead stuff. Otherwise it would all pile up.
What could happen if a species is removed from an ecosystem?
The ecosystem could become unbalanced and other food chains could be impacted.
An organism that can make its own food using energy from the environment.
Producers
A diagram that shows how energy flows from one organism to another.
Food Chain
Examples: Fungi, Bacteria, Earthworms, Mushrooms.
Explain the energy flow in an ecosystem. (Where does it start and go?)
Energy flows through an ecosystem from the sun to producers, then to consumers and decomposers, while matter (like carbon and water) cycles continuously.