Energy Flow

All energy in an ecosystem comes from…….

Producers• Producers- (autotrophs) make their own energy• Turn the suns energy into a form other organisms can obtain• Ex. plants, some bacteria, algae

Consumers• Consumers- (heterotrophs) get energy from other organisms• Get energy through eating or absorption (5 kinds)• Ex. animals and fungi

Herbivores• Eat plants

• Ex. millipedes, rabbits, elephants, sloths, pandas, crickets,

Carnivores• Eat meat

• Ex. cats, dogs, centipedes, sharks, seals, hawks

Omnivores• Eat plants and animals

• Ex. Bears, raccoons, crows, primates

Decomposers / Detritivores• Scavengers

• They eat dead and/or decaying matter

• Ex. vultures, crab, maggots, dung beetle, bacteria

Food Chain• Graphic display of who eats who in an ecosystem• Arrows represent the direction of energy flow

Food Web• Animals feed on more than one species

• A food web is a display of interconnected food chains

Trophic Level• A group of animals that get their energy from the

same source (the sun, plants, rodents, snakes, bugs etc).

• Describes an organisms position in the food web

Energy Pyramid • Only 10% of the energy passed up trophic levels makes it to

the next level• Energy pyramids display this principle