Energy Flow Vocabulary

Producer

• an organism that can make its own food (autotroph)

• an organism that consumes other organisms for energy

• an organism that decomposes organic material

• an organism that relies on sunlight for energy only

Energy pyramid

• Shows how much energy moves from each feeding level

• Illustrates the distribution of biomass in an ecosystem

• Depicts the number of organisms at each trophic level

• Represents the flow of nutrients in a food web

Food Web

• Overlapping food chains that show how energy can flow in an ecosystem

• Overlapping food chains that show how energy can flow in an ecosystem

• A linear sequence of organisms that eat one another

• A diagram that represents the energy flow in a single species

Predator

• Kills animal to eat

• Lives in a den

• Is a type of herbivore

• Builds nests in trees

Decomposers

• break down biotic wastes and dead organisms, and return the nutrients to the ecosystem

• produce energy through photosynthesis

• consume primary producers for energy

• create organic matter from inorganic substances

Consumers

• organisms that obtain energy by eating other organisms

• organisms that produce their own food through photosynthesis

• organisms that decompose dead matter

• organisms that rely on chemical reactions for energy

Primary Consumers

• (1st level consumers) Feed on producers

• (2nd level consumers) Feed on primary consumers

• Producers that create energy

• Decomposers that break down organic matter

Herbivores

• Eat plants

• Eat meat

• Eat both plants and meat

• Do not eat at all

Carnivores

• Eat other animals

• Eat other animals

• Eat both plants and animals

• Are herbivores

Omnivores

• Eat plants AND animals

• Eat only animals

• Eat plants AND animals

• Eat neither plants nor animals