Food Chain and Ecosystem Roles

Front

What is a food chain?

Back

A food chain is a sequence that shows how energy and nutrients flow from one organism to another in an ecosystem.

Front

What is a producer in a food chain?

Back

A producer is an organism that makes its own food, usually through photosynthesis, like plants.

Front

What is a consumer in a food chain?

Back

A consumer is an organism that eats other organisms for energy, such as animals.

Front

What is a primary consumer?

Back

A primary consumer is an herbivore that eats producers, like a caterpillar eating a plant.

Front

What is a secondary consumer?

Back

A secondary consumer is a carnivore that eats primary consumers, like a snake eating a caterpillar.

Front

What is a tertiary consumer?

Back

A tertiary consumer is an organism that eats secondary consumers, like a jaguar eating a snake.

Front

Why do all organisms need food?

Back

All organisms need food to get energy to grow, move, and stay alive.

Front

What role do decomposers play in an ecosystem?

Back

Decomposers break down dead organisms and waste, returning nutrients to the soil.

Front

What is an ecosystem?

Back

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms and their physical environment interacting as a system.

Front

What is photosynthesis?

Back

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use sunlight to make their own food from carbon dioxide and water.