Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers
What is a producer?
An organism that makes its own food using sunlight.
What does every food chain begin with?
The Sun.
What is a food web?
Many connected food chains in an ecosystem.
What does it mean when an organism becomes extinct?
It no longer exists anywhere on Earth
Where does all energy in an ecosystem come from?
The Sun.
What is a consumer?
An organism that eats plants or other animals for energy.
What do arrows in a food chain show?
The direction of energy flow.
How is a food web different from a food chain?
A food web shows multiple connections, not just one path.
What happens when animals become overabundant?
They may use up too many resources, harming the ecosystem.
What happens to energy as it moves through the food chain?
Some is used, and some is passed to the next organism.
What is a decomposer? Give one example.
An organism that breaks down dead matter; e.g., fungi or bacteria.
Which comes first in a food chain: a rabbit or grass?
Grass.
What happens if one animal in a food web disappears?
Other populations increase or decrease depending on it.
How could pollution affect a pond ecosystem?
It could kill fish, plants, and decomposers that clean the water.
Why do we call the Sun the “source of all life”?
It provides the energy plants need to make food.
Why are producers important to all living things?
They are the first source of energy in the food chain.
Draw or describe a food chain with four parts.
Example: Sun → Grass → Grasshopper → Frog → Snake.
Name one animal that could appear in more than one food chain.
Example: A bird that eats worms and insects.
What happens to decomposers if plants die out?
They’d have less material to break down for nutrients.
If the Sun’s light were blocked for a long time, what would happen?
Producers couldn’t make food, and the energy chain would stop.
If decomposers disappeared, what would happen to the ecosystem?
Waste would pile up, and nutrients wouldn’t return to the soil.
What might happen if the producer in a food chain died out?
The consumers depending on it would lose energy and could die.
Why does having many connections make a food web stronger?
If one organism is lost, others can still find energy sources.
Design a scenario: What happens to a forest if all the insects disappear?
Plants might overgrow, birds may lose food, and balance would be lost.
Describe the full path of energy from the Sun to decomposers.
Sun → Producer → Consumer → Decomposer → Soil nutrients.