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Environmental Science
Chapter 1 Section 2
Energy throughout
Ecosystems
• Producers
• Consumers – four types
- herbivores
- carnivores
- omnivores
- scavengers
• Decomposers
Producers
• – use sunlight directly to make
food through photosynthesis.
Herbivores
• Eat only plants
to get energy
Carnivores
• Gets energy from killing and
eating other animals
Omnivores
• Eat both plants and animals to
get energy
Scavengers
• Get their energy from finding
and eating dead animals and
plants
Decomposers
• Break down dead organisms as
well as their waste products,
into elements that can be used
Food Chain
• Graphic representation of how
the energy in food molecules
flow from one organism to
another
• Less accurate than food webs
because simple food chains
rarely occur in nature
Algae fish bear
Food Web
• Made up of food chains
• Much more realistic and
complex than simple food chains
• Arrows go from prey to predator
Food Web
Notice which
direction the
arrows go in
Energy Pyramid
• Producers are at the bottom
• The number of organisms decreases
as you go up the pyramid
• Only energy stored in the tissues of
an organism can be transferred to
the next level
• Only 10% of the energy moves from
one level to the next
Use your red pen
• Why is a food chain an insufficient
representation of energy flow
throughout an ecosystem?
• Read pg 12-13
• On you notes, define habitat and
niche
• Also, state why it is important to
make sure that the natural balance in
an ecosystem is maintained?