The Cycle of Food Life Science Kris Witker

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Learning Objectives Upon completion of this guide, you will be able to: Describe the role of producers in the transfer of energy entering ecosystems as sunlight to chemical energy through photosynthesis. Explain how almost all kinds of animals’ food can be traced back to plants. Trace the organization of simple food chains and food webs (e.g. producers, herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores) Quiz Time

Why do you eat lunch? If you didn’t eat, you’d get hungry, right? You’d probably have trouble concentrating during the afternoon. All living things need energy to survive. This energy comes from food. The food you eat gives you the energy you need to move, breathe, and even think. But how does the energy get into your food?

The source of most life giving energy is the Sun.

Capturing the Sun’s Energy Animals cannot use the Sun’s energy to make food. But plants and other producers can do that job. Only producers can change the Sun’s energy into food energy. Producers change the Sun’s energy into food energy through a process called photosynthesis. Much of this energy is used by the producer for growth and reproduction. Some of this energy is stored in the producer’s cells for later use. This image is borrowed from

Plants are often the first link in a food chain. Because plants convert the Sun’s energy into a usable form that can be passed on to other organisms, plants are called producers. Organisms that eat producers are called first-order consumers (herbivores). Second-order consumers eat first-order consumers (carnivores), and so on.

Three Kinds of Consumers: Herbivores – Plant-eating consumers Carnivores – Meat-eating consumers Omnivores – Consumers that eat both plants and animals Herbivore Carnivore Omnivore Herbivore Carnivore Omnivore What type of consumer is/are the: WolfPeopleDeer

Simple Food Chain A food chain represents the transfer of energy (originating with the sun) from the producer source to a consumer source or a series of consumers. For example, a green plant, a leaf-eating insect, and an insect eating bird would be a simple food chain.

Quiz True True or False:All living things need energy to survive. False True True or False:Consumers give producers enough energy to live.False True True or False:The source of the most life-giving energy are plants.False True True or False:Producers change the Suns energy into food energy through photosynthesis. False True True or False:A lion is an herbivore.False True True or False:An example of simple food chain would be: consumer to Sun to producer.False