Slide Show
Energy in Living Things
- 14.0 Explain the roles and relationships amoung producers, consumers, and
decomposers in the process of energy transfer in a food web. - 15.0 Explain how dead plants and animals are broken down by other living
organisms and how this process contributes to the system as a whole. - 16.0 Recognize that producers (plants that contain chlorophyll) use the
energy from sunlight to make sugars from carbon dioxide and water through
a process called photosynthesis. This food can be used immediately, stored
for later use, or used by other organims.
Energy Transfer in an Ecosystem:
Food Chains:
Food Chain Song
Round and round the energy goes
Round and round in the food chain.
The sun is the source of the energy
That goes around in the food chain.
The sun is the source of the energy in you and me and everything we see.
And green plants store sun’s energy as food so living things can be.
(Spoken) The energy goes—
From the sun to the plants to the herbivores who pass their energy to the carnivores
Listen to the song on the Web File
Food Webs:
Food (energy) moves in the direction of the arrows. The primary source is sunlight. The food web is a simple way of understanding the process of organisms in higher trophic levels getting energy by consuming organisms at lower trophic levels. All energy in an ecosystem originates with the sun. The solar energy is transformed by green plants through a process called photosynthesis to stored chemical energy. This is consumed by plant-eating animals, which are then consumed as food. Humans are part of the food web.
Decomposers and Scavengers:
Decomposers and scavengers break down dead plants and animals. They also break down the waste of other organisms. Decomposers are very important in any ecosystem. If they were not in the ecosystem, the plants would not get essential nutrients, and dead matter and waste would pile up.
There are two kinds of decomposers, scavengers and decomposers.
Scavengers are animals that find dead animals or plants and eat them. When they eat them, they break them into small bits. Flies, wasps, cockroaches and earthworms are scavengers. Earth worms only break down plants.
Decomposers take over when the scavengers are done. Many decomposers are microscopic. Different decomposers have different jobs in the ecosystem. Bacteria like to break down meat or waste material from carnivores. Fungi like to break down fruits and vegetables.
Producers and Consumers:
Producers are land and water plants that make their own food by photosynthesis and are also called autotrophs.
Consumers are organisms that eat plant and animals to make their food and are also called heterotrophs. There are different kinds of consumers.
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herbivores
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carnivores
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omnivores
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scavengers
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decomposers
The Decomposer Song
We recycle matter from animals and plants,
adding nutrients back to the Earth.
We are the fungi and microorganisms.
We are the fungi and some insects too!
DECOMPOSERS in the food chain.
DECOMPOSERS in the food chain.
DECOMPOSERS in the food chain.
DECOMPOSERS in the food chain.
So hard to see with human eyes.
First to the scene when something dies.
We are the fungi and microorganisms.
We are the fungi and some insects too!
DECOMPOSERS in the food chain.
DECOMPOSERS in the food chain.
DECOMPOSERS in the food chain.
DECOMPOSERS in the food chain.
We are the fungi and microorganisms.
We are the fungi and some insects too!
DECOMPOSERS!
Listen to the song on the Web File
Photosynthesis:
