Carbon Cycle in Ecosystems 8.2.5

By Tara Welsh

​Carbon Cycle in Ecosystems 8.2.5
Notebook Page

Match

Match the word to its definition

• producer

• consumer

• decomposer

• glucose

• food chain

an organism that makes its own food

an organism that eats plants or other animals

an organism that breaks down dead material

a simple sugar that is an important energy source

a sequence of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food

• an organism that makes its own food

• an organism that eats plants or other animals

• an organism that breaks down dead material

• a simple sugar that is an important energy source

• a sequence of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food

Labelling

Label the basic parts of a food chain.

Drag labels to their correct position on the image

producer

consumers

​The Producers

Facts:

• they make their own food

• use chlorophyll to capture light

• store energy as glucose molecules

• use light energy to power

  photosynthesis

​Explain the diagram

Video Time!
Edio page 3

Categorize

Options (9)

corn

soybean

potato

rabbit

human

fish

fungi

earthworm

mushroom

Categorize the Parts of the Food Chain

producers

consumers

decomposers

Poll Time!

Producers capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and rearrange the atoms into a molecule other organisms can use. That carbon passes from one organism to the next in a food chain. Some of the carbon atoms are released again as carbon dioxide. Other carbon builds molecules like protein and DNA that organisms need to survive. Decomposers break down dead organisms so that the atoms can be used again. The living things in a food chain are one reservoir that carbon moves through in ecosystems.

​Recall that a food chain is a model that represents the feeding relationships between organisms. Arrows in a food chain represent the direction in which energy and matter move.

Most food chains on Earth begin with producers. Producers, such as dandelions, use light energy to rearrange atoms during photosynthesis. The carbon atoms from carbon dioxide become part of glucose molecules. Begin drawing your food chain by adding the producer shown here.

Draw

Examine the food chain below. Which organisms take in carbon dioxide and produce glucose?

The Consumers

• ​gets energy by eating other organisms

• the food that is eaten contains carbon atoms
  

​1. The rosy maple moth takes in carbon atoms from the glucose in the plant it eats.

2. The green sunfish takes in carbon atoms from eating the moth.

3. The great blue heron takes in carbon atoms by eating the fish.

​Each of the consumers uses cellular respiration to gain energy from food. They release carbon back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

Draw

Examine the food chain below. Which organisms obtain carbon from other organisms?

Dropdown

Consumers that eat plants get most of their carbon from ​

Select answer

.

Consumers that eat other consumers get most of their carbon atoms from ​

Select answer

.

Some of the carbon atoms are ​

Select answer

to carbon dioxide, while others pass to other organisms in the food chain.

The Decomposers

​Recall that a decomposer is an organism that breaks down dead organisms. Decomposers include organisms such as:

• mushrooms

• bacteria

• some insects

All organisms undergo decay after they die with the help of decomposers.

​Decomposers perform an essential service for ecosystems. As dead living things break down, the atoms in their bodies become available for other organisms to use.

Decomposers also perform cellular respiration. Following cellular respiration, the carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere. Producers will use the carbon dioxide to begin a new cycle of carbon exchange during photosynthesis.

Multiple Choice

What essential service do decomposers, such as bacteria and fungi, perform for ecosystems?

• Decomposers produce energy for plants.
• Decomposers create new species in ecosystems.
• Decomposers recycle nutrients in ecosystems.
• Decomposers filter pollutants from water.

​But what if something CAN'T be decomposed?

​How do you think this could possibly happen?

​The Lindow Man

​Thirty years ago, a peat cutter working in the Cheshire countryside spotted what he thought was a piece of wood trundling along a conveyor belt.

Tasked with the job of keeping the belt free of debris, he threw it away, but as it hit the ground, the dirt fell from it and the remains of a human leg lay in the summer sun.

That gruesome discovery on 1 August 1984 led to Rick Turner, the newly-appointed county archaeologist, being called to the site on Lindow Moss.

He says what followed were "the most exciting days of my archaeological career".

​4/28 Testing Flex Day