Food Chain A food chain is a sequence of organisms, each of which uses the next, lower member of the sequence as a food source Arrows go in the direction of energy flow

Food Chain

In a food chain each organism obtains energy from the one at the level below Plants are called producers because they create their own food through photosynthesis Food Chain

Animals are consumers because they CANNOT create their own food, they must eat plants or other animals to get the energy that they need Food Chain

Bacteria and fungi that consume the bodies of dead organisms and other organic wastes are called decomposers Food Chain

Primary Producers of NJ Marshes Cattails Marsh Mallow Blue Flag Iris Marsh Fern

Three Types of Consumers Herbivores: animals that eat only plants Carnivores: animals that eat only other animals Omnivores: animals that eat animals and plants

Other Ways to Classify Consumers 1.Primary Consumers: Herbivores 2.Secondary Consumers: Carnivores that eat herbivores 3.Tertiary Consumers: Carnivores that eat other carnivores 4.Quaternary Consumers: Carnivores that eat carnivores that eat other carnivores

Primary Consumers in Marshes Muskrat (eats mostly Cattails)

Primary Consumers in Marshes Wood Duck eats seeds like those of the Swamp Marsh Mallow and Blue Flag Iris

Primary Consumers in Marshes Glassy-winged Toothpick Grasshopper – eats leaves of plants like cattail and pickerelweed

Secondary Consumers Black Rat Snake eats eggs of animals like wood duck

Secondary Consumers Swamp Sparrow eats seeds but also insects like the toothpick grasshopper

Tertiary Consumers Eat other animals in marsh including snake and sparrow Osprey

Omnivore Racoon eats seeds, fruits, insects, worms, fish, and frogs… and pretty much anything else they can get their paws on!

A food web is an interlocking pattern of food chains Food Web

Organisms that can make their own food

Organisms that cannot make their own food

Biological Magnification The increasing concentration of a pollutant in organisms at higher trophic levels in a food web

Biomass The total amount of organic matter present at a trophic level Decreases as you move up trophic levels

Ecological Pyramid A diagram that shows the amounts in different trophic levels 3 types of pyramids – Biomass – Numbers – energy

Biomass Pyramid

Energy Pyramid

Numbers pyramid

10% Rule Only 10% of the energy from one trophic level is passed on the to the next trophic level