150 likes | 172 Views
Producers and Consumers. Producers and Consumers. Producers can create their own food from the sun’s energy, water, and nutrients Everything else in the ecosystem must rely on feeding interactions to supply their food need These biotic elements are known as consumers
E N D
Producers and Consumers • Producers can create their own food from the sun’s energy, water, and nutrients • Everything else in the ecosystem must rely on feeding interactions to supply their food need • These biotic elements are known as consumers • Consumers cannot exist in an ecosystem without producers
Producers and ConsumersTypes of Consumers • Consumers eat other living things to get the nutrients they need to create energy • Consumers are classified into three categories; • Herbivores • Omnivores • Carnivores
Producers and ConsumersPredators and Prey • One type of interaction within an ecosystem is between a carnivore and what it eats • The animal that is hunted is the prey • The animal that hunts and eats the prey is the predator
Producers and ConsumersSpecial Consumers;Scavengers, Detrivores, and Decomposers • Every living thing on earth will eventually die • Also they create waste from the food that they eat • If there was not a special type of consumer our world would be littered with dead bodies • These special consumers are grouped into 3 categories – Scavengers, Detrivores, or Decomposers
Producers and ConsumersSpecial Consumers;Scavengers, Detrivores, and Decomposers • Scavengers • Don’t kill their own food • Eat remains of dead animals • Examples are; • Crows • Ravens • Maggots • Vultures
Producers and ConsumersSpecial Consumers;Scavengers, Detrivores, and Decomposers • Detrivores • Feed off of waste (detritus) • Examples are; • Snails • Earthworms • Eat their way through the soil and organic material • The waste material that they leave behind is full of nutrients • Without detrivores plants would not be able to survive
Producers and ConsumersSpecial Consumers;Decomposers – Helping or Harming? • Decomposers • Break down (decompose) dead plants and animals • Examples are; • Fungi (mushrooms) • Mould on bread, fruits and vegetables • Others can only be seen with a microscope (bacteria)
Producers and ConsumersSpecial Consumers;Decomposers – Helping or Harming? • E. coli is found in our large intestine • It breaks down the food we eat to leaves behind vitamins that we need • However there is another type of E. coli that is sometimes found in food such as ground beef, milk, and apple juice • When they break down food they produce toxic chemicals that can cause food poisoning
Producers and ConsumersEssential to all Ecosystems • Detrivores and decomposers are nature’s clean up crew • They supply plants with the nutrients that they need to grow • They also connect the biotic elements of the ecosystems to the abiotic elements
Producers and ConsumersFood Chains • A feeding interaction can be shown with a food chain • A food chain always starts with a producer • Then an arrow points to a consumer that eats the producer • In most food chains there is another consumer to eat the first one
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/asset/tdc02_int_energyflow/ http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.oate.decompose/decomposers/