Energy Flow in Ecosystems Teacher Key

7-4.2 Illustrate energy flow in food chains, food webs, and energy
pyramids.
Organisms
Energy roles
 Determined by how the organism obtains its
energy and how they interact with other
organisms in the environment.

 Roles: producer, consumer, or decomposer.

Producer
 An organism that makes it own food by
capturing energy, sunlight energy via
photosynthesis or chemical energy like
Hydrogen sulfide gas (H2SO4)
Examples:
 Sunlight energy: An oak tree, grass (plants),
algae, certain microorganisms (Cyanobacteria)
 Chemical energy: Bacteria (located inside tube
worms) found at hydrothermal (water heat)
vents or “Black smokers” on the ocean floor.
Consumer
 An organism that obtains energy by feeding on
other organisms.
Examples:
 Herbivore, carnivores, omnivores, scavenger,
and detritivores
Herbivores
 Consumers that eat only plants.
Examples:
 Caterpillars, deer,
 Carnivores
 consumers that eat other animals.
Examples:
 Lions, spiders, ant lions
Ominvores
 consumer that eat both plants and animals.
Examples:
 People, bears, raccoon, goats
Scavengers
 Carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead
animals.
Examples:
 Vultures, catfish, carp
Detritivores
 Organisms that feed on detitrus or the remains
of dead animals, dead plants, animal wastes
or feces
Examples:
 Clams, snails, crabs, dung beetles,
earthworms, millipedes
Decomposers
 Organisms that break down wastes and dead
organisms and return the raw materials to the
environment.
Examples:
 Fungi (mushrooms, slime molds) and
bacteria
Food chains
 Use pictures or words and arrows to show the
movement of energy through the trophic
levels of organisms.
 The trophic level of an organism indicates the
position that the organism occupies in the
food chain—what it eats and what eats it.
 The levels are numbered according to how far
the particular organism is along the chain from
the primary producer at Level 1, to
herbivores (Level 2), to predators (Level 3),
to carnivores or top carnivores (Levels 4 or 5).

Food webs
 Describe the organisms found in
interconnecting food chains using pictures or
words and arrows.
 Food webs describe the complex patterns of
energy flow in an ecosystem by modeling who
consumes whom or what.
Energy pyramids
 Show the amount of energy that moves from
one trophic level to another in a food chain
(only 10 %)
 The most energy is available at the producer
level of the pyramid.
 Energy availability decreases as it moves up
the energy pyramid.
Energy Flow in Ecosystems Student Notes
7-4.2 Illustrate energy flow in food chains, food webs, and energy
pyramids.
Organisms
Energy roles
 Determined by how the organism obtains its
__________and how they interact with other
organisms in the environment.

 Roles: ________, consumer, or ___________.

Producer
 An organism that ____________________by
capturing energy, _____________ energy via
photosynthesis or ____________ energy like
Hydrogen sulfide gas (H2SO4)
Examples:
 Sunlight energy: An oak tree, grass (plants),
____, certain microorganisms (Cyanobacteria)
 ________ energy: Bacteria (located inside tube
worms) found at ______________(water heat)
vents or “Black smokers” on the ocean floor.
____________
 An organism that obtains energy by feeding on
other organisms.
Examples:
 Herbivore, carnivores, _________, scavenger,
and detritivores
___________
 Consumers that eat only plants.
Examples:
 Caterpillars, deer,
 __________
 consumers that eat other animals.
Examples:
 Lions, spiders, ant lions
__________
 consumer that eat both plants and animals.
Examples:
 People, bears, raccoon, goats
__________
 Carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead
animals.
Examples:
 Vultures, catfish, carp
__________
 Organisms that feed on detitrus or the remains
of dead animals, dead plants, animal wastes
or feces
Examples:
 Clams, snails, crabs, dung beetles,
earthworms, millipedes
____________
 Organisms that break down wastes and dead
organisms and return the raw materials to the
environment.
Examples:
 Fungi (mushrooms, slime molds) and
bacteria
Food chains
 Use pictures or words and _______to show the
movement of energy through the __________
levels of organisms.
 The trophic level of an organism indicates the
__________ that the organism occupies in the
food chain—what it eats and what eats it.
 The levels are numbered according to how far
the particular organism is along the chain from
the primary ____________ at Level 1, to
__________ (Level 2), to ________ (Level 3),
to carnivores or top carnivores (Levels 4 or 5).
Food webs
 Describe the organisms found in
______________ food chains using pictures or
words and arrows.
 Food webs describe the complex patterns of
energy flow in an ecosystem by ________ who
____________ whom or what.
Energy pyramids
 Show the amount of energy that _______ from
one trophic level to another in a food chain
(only _________)
 The ___________is available at the ________
level of the pyramid.
 _________ availability ______ as it _________
the energy pyramid.