Organisms in an ecosystem play one of three roles: producer, consumer, or decomposer. Producers such as plants make their own food, consumers such as herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and scavengers obtain energy by eating other organisms or dead matter, and decomposers such as bacteria and fungi break down waste and dead organisms. Energy flows through food chains and food webs with producers containing the most energy and higher levels containing less energy. Food webs better represent ecosystems as most organisms are involved in multiple overlapping food chains.

1. Energy Flow in Ecosystems Mr. Schumaier

2. What energy roles do organisms play in an ecosystem? 1

3. Organism's play one of three roles: Producer Consumer Decomposer 1

4. What is a PRODUCER? 2

5. An organism that can make its own food such as grass and trees. 2

7. What is a CONSUMER? 3

8. An organism that gets its energy by feeding on other organisms 3

12. Describe HERBIVORES, CARNIVORES, OMNIVORES, & SCAVENGERS. 4

13. Herbivores Eat only plants such as caterpillars, cattle, and deer. 4

14. Carnivores Eats only animals such as lions, spiders, and snakes. 4

15. Omnivore Eats both plants and animals such as Crows, goats, and most humans. 4

17. Scavenger A carnivore that eats the bodies of dead organisms such at catfish and vultures. 4

18. What do herbivores and carnivores have in common? 5

19. Herbivores and carnivores are similar in that both are consumers; they cannot make their own food but must obtain food by eating other organisms. 5

21. What are DECOMPOSERS? 6

22. An organism that breaks down wastes and dead organisms and returns raw material to the environment Bacteria, fungi, molds, mushrooms 6

25. What is the FOOD CHAIN? 7

26. A series of events in which one organism eat another and obtains energy. 7

29. What is a FOOD WEB? 8

30. Many overlapping food chains in an ecosystem. 8

32. What can be shown through the use of food chain and food web diagrams? 9

33. Food Chain shows one possible path that energy moves through an ecosystem. Food web is a more realistic way to show the flow of energy through an ecosystem 9

34. What is an ENERGY PYRAMID? 10

35. A diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web. 10

37. How much energy is available at each level of an energy pyramid? 11

38. Third-level consumers = 1kcal Second-level consumers = 10 kcal First-level consumers = 100 kcal Producers = 1,000 kcal 11

39. The most energy is available at the producer level. At each level in the pyramid, there is less available energy than at the previous level. 11

40. Why are food webs a more realistic way of portraying ecosystems than food chains? 13

41. Most producers and consumers are part of many overlapping food chains. 13

42. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbWyrcY5i3s

43. The End