Energy Flow Food Chains and Food Webs

Food Chains

A food chain represents a single pathway through which energy and matter flow through an ecosystem.

Most organisms consume—and are consumed by—more than one species.

Producer

• Dunaliella salina

• Makes own food

• Usually a plant

• Photo-synthesis

Primary Consumer

•Brine shrimp

•Usually an herbivore

•Primary must eat plants

•Consumer can eat more than plants

Secondary Consumer

• Wilson’s phalarope

• Eats primary consumer

• Can be omnivore or carnivore

Tertiary Consumer

• Marsh Hawk

• Eats secondary consumer

• Typically a carnivore

A cloud of Wilson's phalaropes fly above Farmington Bay, Utah Life in the Great Salt Lake

Producer

• Rice Grass

• Makes own food

• Usually a plant

• Photo-synthesis

Primary Consumer

•Utah Prairie Dog

•Usually an herbivore

•Primary must eat plants

•Consumer can eat more than plants

Secondary Consumer

• Black-footed ferret

• Eats primary consumer

• Can be omnivore or carnivore

Producer

• Black brush

• Makes own food

• Usually a plant

• Photo-synthesis

Primary Consumer

•Bighorn Sheep

•Usually an herbivore

•Primary consumer must eat plants

•Consumer can eat more than plants

Secondary Consumer

• Cougars

• Eats primary consumer

• Can be omnivore or carnivore

Food Chain: Models how matter and energy flow through an ecosystem

Radiant/Light Energy

• Sun

Chemical Energy • Glucose

Molecules

• Photosynthesis

Mechanical Energy

• Organism eats and uses it to live

• Cellular Respiration

Heat Energy

• Back into space

Food Chain: Models how matter and energy flow through an ecosystem

Food Webs

A food web represents multiple pathways through which energy and matter flow through an ecosystem.

It includes many intersecting food chains.

Most organisms eat, and are eaten, by more than one species.

Food Webs: Savanna Biome A model that shows several connected food chains.