Relationships in Ecology: Food Chains and Webs

8SCIENCE

Different types of consumers

• REVIEW: What is a consumer?• Consumer is any organism that eats other

organisms for energy – Herbivore• Eats plants only

– Carnivore• Eats other animals only

– Omnivore• Eats plants and animals

Food Chains

• How energy (food) passes from one organism to another

• Usually have 3 – 4 links• Many food chains in any ecosystems

Food Chains• First link is a producer– Gets energy from the sun

• Second link of a food chain is usually a herbivore– Eats producers

• Third link of a food chain is usually a carnivore– Animal that eats other

animals

Food Chains continued…

• Fourth link is a top carnivore– Eats other carnivores

• When an organism dies in an ecosystem, decomposers feed on the dead organism– Returns nutrients to the

soil– Ex: bacteria and fungi

Food Webs• Includes many

groups of food chains that overlap

• Shows how energy moves through an ecosystem