Food Webs Within Ecosystems

Marine, Freshwater, and Terrestrial

FOOD WEBS

Ecosystems

• An ecosystem is a community of organisms interacting with one another and their environment.

• An ecosystem includes all biotic and abiotic factors.– Biotic Factors – All living things

• Plants, animals, fungi and bacteria

– Abiotic Factors – All nonliving things• Water, land, light, temperature and soil composition.

Marine Ecosystems

Oceans

Freshwater Ecosystems

Lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and aquifers

Terrestrial Ecosystems

Forests, Deserts, Grasslands, Mountains

Habitat

A habitat is a place where an organism lives.

Population

A population is a group of individuals of the same species that live in a certain area.

Community

A community is all of the populations that live and interact with each other in an area.

Niche

A niche is the role of an organism

within it’s community.

Includes what it eats, when it eats

and where it lives.

Coral, plankton, fish

Food Chain

A food chain shows how the

energy in food is passed from organism to

organism in an ecosystem.

Food Web

A food web is a combination of

all the overlapping

food chains in an ecosystem.

Producers

• Producers are organisms that make their own food through photosynthesis.

• Examples – plants, algae and plankton

Consumers

• Consumers are organisms that eat other organisms to obtain food for energy.

There are 3 Types of Consumers

• Herbivores – Animals that only eat plants

• Omnivores – Animals that eat plants and other animals

• Carnivores – Animals that only eat other animals (meat)

• Primary Consumer

• Secondary Consumer

• Tertiary Consumer

Predator/Prey Relationships

• Predator – Organism that eats another organism

• Prey – Organism that is eaten by the predator

Parasite/Host Relationships

• Parasite – organism that feeds off other living creatures – Fleas, Ticks, Worms, Lice, etc.

• Host – organism on which the parasite is feeding. Always bad for host!

Decomposers

• A decomposer is an organism that gets their energy by breaking down dead organisms.