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3. Food in an Ecosystem.

REMEMBER:
 
Animals that eat plants or part of plants, such as roots, leaves, stems, fruits and seeds, are called HERBIVORES.

​CARNIVORES are those animals that eat other animals.

OMNIVORES are the animals that eat plants and other animals.

 

 

 

 

 

FOOD CHAINS

 

 

A food chain shows how each living thing gets its food.

​A food chain always starts with a plant  and ends with an animal.  ​

A food chain has at least 3 elements.

The arrows ------>  in a food chain show the flow of energy

 

   Plants​ are called producers​ because they are able to use light energy from the Sun to produce food (sugar) from carbon dioxide and water. The process by which plants make food is called photosynthesis​​.  
 

 

   Animals​ cannot make their own food so they must eat plants and/or other animals. They are called consumers​. There are three groups of consumers.      

 

       1. Animals that eat ONLY PLANTS are called herbivores​​ (or primary consumers​​).       

       2. Animals that eat OTHER ANIMALS are called carnivores​.           

                    -carnivores that eat herbivores are called secondary consumers​.                              -carnivores that eat other carnivores are called tertiary consumers.

​       3. Animals and people who eat BOTH animals and plants are omnivores.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXAMPLES​

of ​

FOOD CHAINS

and

TROPHIC LEVELS

 
   When any organism dies, it is eventually eaten by DETRITIVORES​​ (like vultures, worms and crabs) and broken down by DECOMPOSERS​ (mostly bacteria and fungi), and the exchange of energy continues.
 
 
   These decomposers speed up the decaying process that releases mineral salts back into the food chain for absorption by plants as nutrients.
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