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Roles of Living Things. Chapter 4 Section 1. Organisms that make their own food from inorganic molecules and energy are called producers. Plants are the most important producers in terrestrial ecosystems.
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Roles of Living Things Chapter 4 Section 1
Organisms that make their own food from inorganic molecules and energy are called producers. • Plants are the most important producers in terrestrial ecosystems. • In aquatic ecosystems, small photosynthetic protists and bacteria are the most important producers.
Organisms that cannot make their own food are called consumers. • Organisms that eat only plants are called consumers. (Primary consumers) • Organisms that eat only meat called carnivores. (Secondary consumers) • Organisms that eat both plants and animals are called omnivores (Can act as primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers) • Organisms that feed of the bodies of dead organisms are called scavengers.
Bacteria and fungi that consume the bodies of dead organisms and other organic wastes are called decomposers. • Decomposers recycle nutrients from organisms back into the environment. • A trophic level is a layer in the structure of feeding relationships in an ecosystem. • Producers are called autotrophs because they make their own food. • Consumers are called heterotrophs because they eat other organisms.
