Producers and Consumers

Producers and Consumers Producers can create their own food from the sun’s energy, water, and nutrients Everything else in the ecosystem must rely on feeding interactions to supply their food need These biotic elements are known as consumers Consumers cannot exist in an ecosystem without producers

Producers and Consumers Types of Consumers Consumers eat other living things to get the nutrients they need to create energy Consumers are classified into three categories; Herbivores Omnivores Carnivores

Producers and Consumers Types of Consumers Type of Consumer Food Eaten Examples Herbivore Plants Moose and aphids Carnivores Meat Lake trout and wolf Omnivores Plants and Meat Humans and Bears

Producers and Consumers Predators and Prey One type of interaction within an ecosystem is between a carnivore and what it eats The animal that is hunted is the prey The animal that hunts and eats the prey is the predator

Producers and Consumers Special Consumers; Scavengers, Detrivores, and Decomposers Every living thing on earth will eventually die Also they create waste from the food that they eat If there was not a special type of consumer our world would be littered with dead bodies These special consumers are grouped into 3 categories – Scavengers, Detrivores, or Decomposers

Producers and Consumers Special Consumers; Scavengers, Detrivores, and Decomposers Don’t kill their own food Eat remains of dead animals Examples are; Crows Ravens Maggots Vultures

Producers and Consumers Special Consumers; Scavengers, Detrivores, and Decomposers Feed off of waste (detritus) Examples are; Snails Earthworms Eat their way through the soil and organic material The waste material that they leave behind is full of nutrients Without detrivores plants would not be able to survive

Producers and Consumers Special Consumers; Decomposers – Helping or Harming? Break down (decompose) dead plants and animals Examples are; Fungi (mushrooms) Mould on bread, fruits and vegetables Others can only be seen with a microscope (bacteria)

Producers and Consumers Special Consumers; Decomposers – Helping or Harming? E. coli is found in our large intestine It breaks down the food we eat to leaves behind vitamins that we need However there is another type of E. coli that is sometimes found in food such as ground beef, milk, and apple juice When they break down food they produce toxic chemicals that can cause food poisoning

Producers and Consumers Essential to all Ecosystems Detrivores and decomposers are nature’s clean up crew They supply plants with the nutrients that they need to grow They also connect the biotic elements of the ecosystems to the abiotic elements

Producers and Consumers Food Chains A feeding interaction can be shown with a food chain A food chain always starts with a producer Then an arrow points to a consumer that eats the producer In most food chains there is another consumer to eat the first one

Producers and Consumers Food Chains

http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/asset/tdc02_int_energyflow/ http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.oate.decompose/decomposers/