Food Chains in East Tennessee

The Basics Food chains are the order in which energy flows through an environment. Energy passes to animals through their food sources, so another way to look at it is what animals eat what other animals. Each environment has many different food chains, and each environment has different food chains in it from other types of environments.

Sunlight All food chains begin with the Sun. This is because all plants, and therefore all life on Earth, get their energy from the Sun.

Plants Plants come after the Sun in food chains because they are what directly gets their energy from the Sun. They are called producers because they only need sunlight to get energy; they do not need to eat anything. In East Tennessee, common producers include trees such as maple or oak trees and wildflowers such as milkweed or coneflowers.

Herbivores Herbivores are the animals that eat plants in the food chain. They get their energy from eating the plants. They are also called primary consumers because they are the first animal on the food chain that must eat something to get energy. Common primary consumers in East Tennessee include white tailed deer, beavers, squirrels, cottontail rabbits, and mice.

Carnivores Carnivores are animals that eat herbivores in order to get energy. They come after the herbivores in the food chain. They are also called secondary consumers because they are the second animal in the food chain that must eat something to get energy. Common secondary consumers in East Tennessee include red foxes, red wolves, and copperheads.

Model Food Chain White tailed deer (primary consumer) Red wolf (secondary consumer) Sunlight Grass (producer)

Conclusion Since a food chain is how energy flows through an environment, organisms get energy from all the organisms below it in the food chain. Though producers get energy only from the Sun, secondary consumers get energy both directly from primary consumers and indirectly from producers and the Sun.