1. Energy and Living Things

2. Introduction
Organisms can be either producers or consumers in terms of energy flow through an ecosystem. Producers convert energy from the environment into carbon bonds, such as those found in the sugar glucose. Plants are the most obvious examples of producers. Other producers include bacteria living around deep-sea vents. These bacteria take energy from chemicals coming from the Earth's interior and use it to make sugars. Other bacteria living deep underground can also produce sugars from such inorganic sources.

3. Roles of Producers
Producers trap solar energy and convert it into chemical energy in the form of food
They are the providers of energy for the consumers
They produce their energy from inorganic compounds
Many producers are green plants

4. Role of Consumers
The consumer (autotroph) consumes this producer (or other consumers) and obtains the energy from them
This continues through the trophic levels of a food web with energy being passed through

5. Role of Decomposers
Decomposers are organisms that use dead plant and material as food
They break down the material and then they get the energy they need to live
Decomposers are plants such as bacteria and fungi, most of them are microscopic
They are referred to as the janitors of nature

6. Relationships of Organisms
Organisms are all related by the food chain
One organism (the producer) makes the food
Then another organism (the consumer) eats the producer
Then another organism (the decomposer) eats the consumer after it dies

7. How Dead Animals and Plants Are Broken Down
Dead animals are broken down by processes initiated by detrivores that consume dead matter and digest some of its organics while excreting the remainder as more waste.

8. More on Decomposers
Decomposers are a special subset of detrital feeders that breakdown organic compounds into inorganic forms outside their bodies then absorb what they need. This is the work of fungi and bacteria that other organisms cannot complete

9. Photosynthesis
Organisms need energy to survive. Some organisms are capable of absorbing energy from sunlight and using it to produce sugar and other organic compounds such as lipids and proteins. The sugars are then used to provide energy for the organism. This process, called photosynthesis, is used by plants and some protists, bacteria, and blue-green algae.

10. Photosynthesis (cont.)
In photosynthesis, solar energy is converted to chemical energy. The chemical energy is stored in the form of glucose (sugar). Carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight are used to produce glucose, oxygen, and water.

11. Sources http://biology.about.com/od/plantbiology/a/aa050605a.htm