FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS 1 YEAR 7 SCIENCE

CLASSIFYING ORGANISMS Species can be classified according to their method of nutrition: Producers = make food Consumers = eat food 2

PRODUCERS Make their own food They do this by using light energy from the Sun, carbon dioxide from the air and water from the soil to produce food - in the form of organic molecules like glucose. The process is called photosynthesis. eg. plants, algae, some bacteria

CONSUMERS Cannot make their own food They need to consume (eat) plants and/or animals. There are different groups of consumers: Animals that eat only plants. Animals that eat only animals. Animals that eat both animals AND plants.

CONSUMERS Some organisms are specialist feeders This means that they eat only one type of food eg. Nectivore – eats nectar Insectivore – eats insects Frugivore – eats fruit Folivore – eats leaves (eg. Koalas only eat eucalyptus leaves)

EAT OR BE EATEN? Species can also be classified to whether they are: predators prey Eyes on the SIDE, HIDE Eyes on the FRONT, HUNT 10

Feeding types

WAYS TO CLASSIFY ORGANISMS There are lots of ways to classify organisms: For example: Producer vs consumer Herbivore vs carnivore vs omnivore Predator vs prey Heterotroph vs autotroph Consuming dead vs alive organisms Digesting dead things inside vs outside 12

MAKE IT OR EAT IT? Species can be classified according to their method of nutrition: Autotrophs heterotrophs However, a few species have both methods. 13

MAKE IT OR EAT IT? Autotroph: Heterotroph: An organism that makes its own organic molecules (food) using photosynthesis Heterotroph: An organism that needs to obtain its organic molecules from other organisms Needs to INGEST and DIGEST their food 14

AUTOTROPH EXCEPTIONS Sundew plants Sacoglossan sea slugs are carnivorous plants are autotrophic but they "hunt" for insects to get additional nutrients, Sacoglossan sea slugs are heterotrophic perform kleptoplasty to capture intact, functional chloroplasts from their algal food sources to be able to photosynthesise 15

DECOMPOSERS Bacteria and fungi are consumers called decomposers. They eat decaying matter - dead plants and animals and in the process they break them down and decompose them. When that happens, they release nutrients and mineral salts back into the soil - which then will be used by plants!

DECOMPOSERS There are 2 groups of decomposers: Detritivores Decompose and digest their food inside their body Saprotrophs Animals that decompose their food outside the body and then ingest it