Food Chains and Webs

Front

What is a food chain?

Back

A food chain is a linear sequence that shows how energy and nutrients flow from one organism to another in an ecosystem, starting from producers to various levels of consumers.

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What is a food web?

Back

A food web is a complex network of interconnected food chains that illustrates how different organisms in an ecosystem are related through feeding relationships.

Front

What is a producer?

Back

A producer is an organism, typically a plant, that can make its own food through photosynthesis and serves as a primary source of energy in a food chain.

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What is a consumer?

Back

A consumer is an organism that cannot produce its own food and must eat other organisms (plants or animals) to obtain energy.

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What is a herbivore?

Back

A herbivore is an animal that primarily eats plants.

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What is a carnivore?

Back

A carnivore is an animal that primarily eats other animals.

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What is an omnivore?

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An omnivore is an animal that eats both plants and animals.

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What is a decomposer?

Back

A decomposer is an organism that breaks down dead or decaying organisms, recycling nutrients back into the ecosystem.

Front

How does energy flow in a food chain?

Back

Energy flows from producers to consumers, with each level of the food chain receiving less energy than the one before it.

Front

What role do decomposers play in an ecosystem?

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Decomposers break down dead matter, returning essential nutrients to the soil and helping to maintain the balance of the ecosystem.