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Ecosystems. Producers are the green plants. They make their own food. Consumers are animals and they get their energy from the producers or from organisms that eat producers. .
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Producers are the green plants. They make their own food. • Consumers are animals and they get their energy from the producers or from organisms that eat producers.
There are three types of consumers: herbivores are animals that eat plants, carnivores are animals that eat herbivores and omnivores are animals that eat plants and other animals. • Decomposers are plants and animals that break down dead plants and animals into organic materials that go back into the soil.
Food Chain • A food chain is the path of food from a given final consumer back to a producer. For instance, a typical food chain in a field ecosystem might be: grass ---> grasshopper --> mouse ---> snake ---> hawk
Food Web • The real world, of course, is more complicated than a simple food chain. • Hawks don't limit their diets to snakes, snakes eat things other than mice, mice eat grass as well as grasshoppers, and so on. A more realistic depiction of who eats whom is called a food web
Adaptation • Adaptations are the way living organisms cope with environmental stresses and pressures
Organisms that are adapted to their environment are able to: • get air, water, food and nutrients • cope with physical conditions such as temperature, light and heat • defend themselves from their natural enemies • reproduce • respond to changes around them
Polar BearsSpecial adaptations 1. Why do polar bears have such big feet? 2. How does their fur keep them warm?
These big feet help to distribute their weight as they walk on thin ice in the arctic waters. • Polar bears are strong swimmers and can stay submerged for two minutes at a time. Their fur is made of hollow hairs which trap air and help to insulate them in the frigid waters.
Evergreens use a wide variety of physical adaptations. • Some of these adaptations include their shape, leaf type, root system, and color.
Some of these adaptations include: • The adaptation from broadleaf to narrow needle-like structures limits water loss through transpiration • The conical shape of the evergreens allows the snow to slide off the branches rather than pile up. • The dark green color of the needles absorbs the sunlight, and since the needles are always present, once temperature start to get warm, photosynthesis quickly begins.
