Food chains

• Prey


  An animal that is being hunted and eaten by another animal
• Predator


  An animal that hunts and eats other animals
• How organisms obtain their energy


  1. Food producers (plants) depend on the sun for energy

  2. Food consumers feed on other living things
• Food producer


  A plant that can make its own food
• Food consumer


  An organism that cannot make its own food and depends on plants or other consumers for food
• Types of food relationships


  • Prey and predator
  • Producer and consumer
  • Competitors for food
• Decomposers


  Organisms that cannot be hunted/hunt and are not producers, but break down waste materials and dead organisms into simpler substances
• Function of decomposers


  Break down waste materials and dead organisms into simpler substances such as carbon dioxide, water and mineral salts
• Conditions that will increase the population of fungi and bacteria


  • Warm
  • Dark
  • Damp
  • Oxygen
  • Water/moisture
  • Presence of food
• Scavengers


  Organisms that speed up the rate of decomposition by increasing the exposed surface area of the dead organisms for decomposers
• Decomposers like fungi and bacteria break down dead organisms into simpler substances such as carbon dioxide, water and mineral salts which will be taken in by the plant to make more food for the community