Producers and consumers in the environment

1. Lecture
on
Producers, Consumers and
Decomposers
By
Ravi Gedela M.Tech IITG, (PhD IITG)
Assistant professor
Department of Bio-Sciences
RGUKT SKLM
Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge
Technologies

2. Natural capital
Natural capital: The main components of an ecosystem are energy, chemicals,
and organisms. Nutrient cycling and the flow of energy—first from the sun, then
through organisms, and finally into the environment as low-quality heat— link
these components

3. Producers
• These are food suppliers to all plants and green trees
which are termed as producers.
• For example, all green plants and trees take carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere, water from the soil, and
sunlight from the sun.
• The plants undergo a chemical reaction and it is also
known as photosynthesis.

4. Conti..
During photosynthesis, plants liberate oxygen into an
environment which is essential for life.
The below equation explains about the photosynthesis
reaction and liberation of oxygen.

5. Conti..

6. Consumers/ heterotrophs
• The other organisms in an ecosystem are
consumers, or heterotrophs (“other-feeders”),
which cannot produce the nutrients they need
through photosynthesis or other processes
• They get their nutrients by feeding on other
organisms (producers or other consumers) or
their wastes and remain

7. Consumers
• Consumers are classified into four groups and
they are:
• Primary consumers
• Secondary consumers/ Carnivores
• Tertiary consumers
• Omnivores

8. Primary consumers
• Primary consumers, or herbivores (plant
eaters), are animals that eat mostly green
plants.
• They depend only on plants for their food and
they are called as herbivores. The examples of
it are insects, flies, deer, and rabbit.

9. Secondary consumers/Carnivores
• Carnivores (meat eaters) are animals that
feed on the flesh of other animals.
• Secondary consumers that feed on the flesh of
herbivores.
• spiders, lion, frog, lizard, fish, and snake

10. Tertiary consumers
• Tertiary (or higher-level) consumers that feed
on the flesh of herbivores and other
carnivores.
• Tigers, hawks, and killer whales.

12. Omnivores
• Omnivores such as pigs, rats, and humans eat
both plants and animals.

14. Decomposers
• Decomposers are consumers that, in the process of
obtaining their nutrients, release nutrients from the
wastes or remains of plants and animals and return
those nutrients to the soil, water, and air for reuse by
producers.
• Most decomposers are bacteria and fungi.
• Other consumers, called detritus feeders, or
detritivores, feed on the wastes or dead bodies
(detritus) of other organisms.
• Examples are earthworms, hyenas, and vultures

15. • Termites, ants and some other bacteria are
called as decomposers.
• Animals such as frog, dog, wolf, and eagles
are termed as decomposers.
• The decomposers not only act as scavengers
to clean the dead bodies but also serves as
parasites, participate to clean the ecological
cycles.

17. Conti..

19. Thank
you