Do Now Indian pipe is a plant that is completely white—it has no chlorophyll or chloroplasts to give it a green color. Do you think this plant could be a producer? If not, where do you think it could get the energy it needs to survive? Write your answers in your notebook.

Big Picture LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems  Similarly, predatory interactions may reduce the number of organisms or eliminate whole populations of organisms. Mutually beneficial interactions, in contrast, may become so interdependent that each organism requires the other for survival. Although the species involved in these competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across ecosystems, the patterns of interactions of organisms with their environments, both living and nonliving, are shared. (MS-LS2-2) LS2.B: Cycle of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems  Food webs are models that demonstrate how matter and energy is transferred between producers, consumers, and decomposers as the three groups interact within an ecosystem. Transfers of matter into and out of the physical environment occur at every level. Decomposers recycle nutrients from dead plant or animal matter back to the soil in terrestrial environments or to the water in aquatic environments. The atoms that make up the organisms in an ecosystem are cycled repeatedly between the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem. (MS-LS2-3)

Objectives: By observing and creating models, students will learn how energy flows through a food web.  Learning Target  Today I will: Learn about how energy flows through a food web  So that I can: Apply those concepts to how organisms in an ecosystem are connected.  I will know I got it if: I can explain how energy flows in and ecosystem and what the result of removing a species would be.  Agenda  Today we will:  Watch a quick video  Teacher presentation  Group and Individual work  Exit ticket Vocabulary  herbivore  carnivore  omnivore  food chain  food web  energy pyramid

The Energy Connection Producers Organisms that use sunlight directly to make food are called producers. They do this by using a process called photosynthesis. Consumers Organisms that eat other organisms are called consumers. Decomposers Organisms that get energy by breaking down dead organisms are called decomposers.

Comparing Consumers and Producers  E1\60366.html E1\60366.html

The Energy Connection, continued Food Chains and Food Webs A food chain is a diagram that shows how energy in food flows from one organism to another. A food web is a diagram that shows the feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem.

The Energy Connection, continued

Energy Pyramids An energy pyramid is a triangular diagram that shows an ecosystem’s loss of energy, which results as energy passes through the ecosystem’s food chain.

Wolves and the Energy Pyramid Gray Wolves and the Food Web Gray wolves were brought back to Yellowstone National Park in The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service thinks the return of the wolves will restore the natural energy flow in the area and bring populations back into balance. Balance in Ecosystems All organisms in a food web are important for the health and balance of all other organisms in the food web.

Exit Ticket How might an omnivore be a link both at the beginning of a food web and near the end?