Special Report: Producers By Mr. Krall

Hello, I’m Daisy Green, here to report to you on producers, and how they work.

Here with me is my first guest… a tree.

Hello, tree.

Okay...

Well, the first thing we need to know is that producers are organisms that make food from materials that are not food.

It says here that trees are phototrophic producers.

“Photo” means light so a phototrophic producer creates food using light energy.

Care to shed some “light” on that, Violet?

I’ll see what I can do Daisy. SPECIAL REPORT: PRODUCERS! I’ll see what I can do Daisy.

Phototrophic producers include: SPECIAL REPORT: PRODUCERS! Phototrophic producers include: trees, ferns, moss, and other plants, photosynthetic bacteria, and photosynthetic protists like algae and euglena.

Phototrophic producers need “raw materials” to make their food.

These materials include… LIGHT ENERGY CO2 H2O These materials include… light energy carbon dioxide and water.

CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 H2O LIGHT ENERGY Carbon dioxide (CO2) is taken in through the leaves or directly into the cells.

LIGHT ENERGY CO2 H2O Water (H2O) is taken in through some type of roots, or directly into the cells.

LIGHT ENERGY CO2 H2O Light energy is absorbed by chloroplasts. These can be found in the cells of leaves or inside the cells of the bodies of other producers.

LIGHT ENERGY CO2 H2O Hold on…

I’m being told that we have breaking information… LIGHT ENERGY CO2 H2O I’m being told that we have breaking information…

LIGHT ENERGY CO2 H2O Our Action News reporter Minnie Little is looking at producer cell right now where photosynthesis is taking place!

LIGHT ENERGY CO2 H2O Minnie, can you hear me?

Indeed I can. I’m here in the lab with a plant cell under the microscope right now.

There’s a lot going on inside that cell. Let me see if I can clean it up a bit.

I’m going to hide the cell parts we don’t need, to focus on the chloroplasts.

CHLOROPLASTS I see them. They look like green footballs. Okay, now all that’s left are the chloroplasts.

CHLOROPLASTS Photosynthesis? Can you tell us a little more about that? The chloroplasts are the cell parts where photosynthesis happens.

CHLOROPLASTS Photosynthesis is a chemical reaction that makes a sugar molecule called glucose.

Yes. They were carbon dioxide (CO2), water, and sunlight. CHLOROPLASTS You remember before when you were talking about the “raw materials” a producer needs?

…and then turned into food? Exactly. Those materials are brought together in the chloroplasts.

I’m sure our viewers would love to see that happen. Yes. That “food” is the sugar, glucose.

Well, it would look like this.

Sunlight would shine in on the chloroplasts, and be absorbed by their green pigment chlorophyll.

Water and carbon dioxide would come in through the cell to the chloroplasts.

6CO2 + SUNLIGHT + H2O  c6H12O6 + 6O2 (carbon dioxide) (water) (glucose) The raw materials join together, using the chemical reaction above, and the sunlight energy is stored inside glucose as chemical energy.

6CO2 + SUNLIGHT + H2O  c6H12O6 + 6O2 So glucose is the food that phototrophic producers make. Interesting. 6CO2 + SUNLIGHT + H2O  c6H12O6 + 6O2 c6H12O6 (carbon dioxide) (water) (glucose) Later on, the producer will break apart the glucose and get the chemical energy out.

You are always right in the thick of it, Minnie. Chemotrophic producers also use a chemical reaction to turn chemicals into food.

SPECIAL REPORT: PRODUCERS! So to recap:

Producers are living things. SPECIAL REPORT: PRODUCERS! Producers are living things.

They can make energy containing molecules (food)… SPECIAL REPORT: PRODUCERS! They can make energy containing molecules (food)…

…by using non-food “raw materials”… SPECIAL REPORT: PRODUCERS! …by using non-food “raw materials”…

…and a chemical reaction. SPECIAL REPORT: PRODUCERS! …and a chemical reaction.

Later, they break that food apart ... SPECIAL REPORT: PRODUCERS! Later, they break that food apart ...

…to release the chemical energy stored inside the food. SPECIAL REPORT: PRODUCERS! …to release the chemical energy stored inside the food.

That’s it for our special report on producers.

SPECIAL REPORT: PRODUCERS! For Daisy and Minnie…

SPECIAL REPORT: PRODUCERS! I’m Violet Verde.

SPECIAL REPORT: PRODUCERS! Good night!