FOOD WEBS MATTER

S7L4aDemonstrate in a food web that matter is transferred from one organism to another and can recycle between organisms and their environments.

THE ENERGY CYCLE AT WORK As animals eat grass, the nutrients contained in

the grass are broken down into their chemical components and then rearranged to become living deer tissue

Waste products are produced in the animal’s digestive system and pass from the deer’s body back into the ecosystem.

Organisms break down this waste into simpler chemical components

The grass growing close by is able to take up those components and utilize them; they become a part of the grass

The cycle begins again.

FOOD CHAINS AND FOOD WEBS

The producers, consumers and decomposers of each ecosystem make up a food chain.

Energy flow through an ecosystem occurs in food chains, with energy passing from one organism to another.

There can be many food chains in an ecosystem.

producer

consumers

decomposers

PRODUCERS

Producers of an ecosystem use abiotic (non living) factors to obtain and store energy for themselves or the consumers that eat them. Trees, bushes, shrubs, small plants,

grass, moss

CONSUMERS

Members of the ecosystem that depend on other members for food

Each time that a plant or animal consumes another organism, energy transfers to the consumer. Deer, foxes, rabbits, raccoons, owls,

hawks, snakes, mice spiders, insects

THREE TYPES OF CONSUMERS Herbivore-animals that eat only plants Omnivore-animals that eat both plants and

other animals Carnivore-animals that eat only other animals

Saprophyte-organisms that obtain food from dead organisms or from the waste products of living organisms Decomposers are members of the ecosystem that

use dead or decaying organisms as a source of energy. They further reduce organic matter to its simplest chemical components.

They include fungi and bacteria

The interaction of many food chains is a food web.

Most producers and consumers interact with many others, forming a complex food web out of several simple food chains.

Predator is any organism that feeds on other living things, typically animals, but also insects and plants.

Prey is the organism that it feeds on. Predator and prey together help maintain

an ecological balance within their ecosystem.

This balance benefits the community as a whole, but can be either helpful or harmful to the individuals that make up the community, depending upon whether they are the predator or the prey.