food chains

• Food chain


  A series of organisms where each one feeds on the next, transferring energy
• Producer


  • An organism that produces its own food, usually a plant or algae
• Consumer


  • An organism that feeds on other organisms
• Primary consumer


  The first consumer in a food chain, usually an herbivore
• Secondary consumer


  The second consumer in a food chain, usually a carnivore
• Tertiary consumer


  The third consumer in a food chain, usually a carnivore
• Herbivore


  An organism that only eats plants
• Carnivore


  An organism that only eats other animals
• Omnivore


  An organism that eats both plants and animals
• Energy transfer in a food chain

  1. Producer to primary consumer

  2. Primary consumer to secondary consumer

  3. Secondary consumer to tertiary consumer
• Food chains are normally only 4 or 5 organisms long
• Energy is lost at each stage of the food chain


  Due to movement, warmth, waste, and inedible parts
• Prey


  An organism that is captured and eaten by another organism
• Predator


  An organism that captures and eats other organisms
• Food web


  A complex network of interconnected food chains
• Food webs are more resilient than simple food chains
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• If one organism is taken away from a food web

  It can have devastating impacts on the whole food web
• If the rabbit population declines or is wiped out

  The grass will grow more, the foxes will eat more mice and blackbirds, the blackberries will grow more, and the wheat may grow more
• Taking out one organism can change the interactions between organisms in the food web
• Bioaccumulation


  Chemicals build up in living organisms as they move up the food chain
• The animal at the top of the food chain will have the highest concentration of chemicals
• DDT was an insecticide used to kill mosquitoes and was also used on crops
• DDT was an example of bioaccumulation that had devastating effects on birds of prey
• The death of birds of prey due to bioaccumulation of DDT had a knock-on effect on the whole food web
• Organisms in a food web rely on each other for food, pollination, shelter, etc. (interdependence)
• Human activities like hunting, habitat destruction, pollution, etc. can affect the entire food web
• Ecosystem


  All the living organisms in an area and the nonliving parts of the area
• Ecosystem


  • Includes all the living organisms (e.g. fish, corals, seaweeds, sponges) and the nonliving parts (e.g. water, rocks)
• Community


  A group of different species of organisms that live in an area
• Population


  A group of organisms of the same species
• Habitat


  Where an organism lives
• Niche


  A particular place in an ecosystem where an organism lives
• Niche


  The particular role an organism plays in an ecosystem
• Organisms occupy different niches to coexist and have enough food
• Niches in a tree

  • Roots (bacteria)
  • Bark (insects)
  • Tree canopy (insects, birds)
• Niches in a lake

  • Water's edge
  • Middle of lake
  • Lake floor
• Woodpeckers have a niche of providing holes in trees for other organisms
• Trees have a niche of providing shelter and nesting material for birds
• Fish that feed on the lake bottom have a niche of churning the mud and releasing food for other organisms