Food Webs SRA

Discover food webs! Learn about producers, consumers, and energy flow in ecosystems.

Vocabulary producer (pruh DOO sur) organism, such as a plant, that makes its own foodin this food web. Reading Comprehension Green plants, such as the sunflowers on the front of this card, use energy from the sun to make food in a process called photosynthesis. Plants use most of the food they make for their own life processes. The food they don't use is stored in the plant. Because plants produce Earth's food energy, plants are called producers.When other organisms eat plants, the stored energy in the plant is transferred to them. Because other organisms consume, or eat, plants, they are called consumers. All organisms that are not producers are consumers. Animals are consumers. Plants get energy from the sun in a process called _ photosynthesis transpiration respiration Different ecosystems produce different amounts of food energy. The amount of plant growth in an ecosystem is a measure of stored food energy. A rain forest produces more food energy than a desert because there is more plant growth in a rain forest.A food chain is a model that shows a feeding pathway. Food chains begin with producers. One pathway might be tree → caterpillar → robin → hawk. Energy from a tree is transferred to a caterpillar as the caterpillar eats leaves. When a robin eats the caterpillar, the energy in the caterpillar is then transferred to the robin. The robin passes on its stored energy when it is eaten by a hawk. A _ shows the pathway energy follows through different organisms. producer food chain habitat Very few animals eat only one kind of food. An antelope may feed on shrubs, tree leaves, and grass. An eagle may feed on snakes, mice, and rabbits. A leopard may eat an antelope, a warthog, or a baboon. Feeding relationships can be very complex.When animals eat more than one kind of organism, they are part of more than one food chain. Scientists describe more complicated feeding relationships with a diagram called a food web. A food web diagram shows how food chains in a habitat are interrelated. Very few animals eat _ only other animals only plants only one type of food Producers are always the beginning of a food web, because they make their own food energy. Next come animals that eat plants. This link is followed by animals that eat only other animals. Arrows are drawn from an organism to the organisms that eat it. The last link in the food web is an organism known as a top consumer. This organism is not eaten by any other organisms in the food web.Like food chains, food webs are a way to show energy transfer. The arrows in the food web show the path energy follows as it passes from producer to consumer and then to other consumers A food web diagram shows _. one feeding pathway connected food chains a measure of food energy The last consumers in a food web are decomposers. When an organism dies, it is consumed by decomposers. Decomposers are not always shown on a food web diagram. Decomposers help return nutrients to the soil. Examples of decomposers are earthworms, mushrooms, and bacteria. What important job do decomposers do? Food Web Diagram Which animals eat squid? leopard seal, elephant seal, killer whale cod, krill, penguin algae, protists, elephant seal What is a correct food chain in this web? krill → cod → squid → protist algae → Adélie penguin → crabeater seal → elephant seal protists → squid → cod → krill algae → cod → leopard seal → killer whale The algae are the _ in this food web. consumers producers decomposers