Energy Flow Through Ecosystems
6th grade science
Adapted from Holt Environmental
Sciene
Energy Flow Through Ecosystems
Objective: Describe how energy is transferred from the sun to
producers and then to consumers
Early Bird: List three plants or animals and the animals that eat
them.
Motivate: Discuss the Early Bird
Focus: Remind students about the “Missing Ingredient Recipe”
Activity: Powerpoint and guided note taking.
Practice: Students draw a sketch of how energy enters an
ecosystem.
Energy flow through
ecosystems: guided note
taking practice
Objectives:
• Describe how energy is transferred
from the sun to producers and then
to consumers.
Life Depends on the Sun
• Energy from the sun enters an ecosystem
when plants use sunlight to make sugar
molecules.
• This happens through a process called
photosynthesis.
Life Depends on the Sun
• Photosynthesis is the process by which plants,
algae, and some bacteria use sunlight, carbon
dioxide, and water to produce carbohydrates
and oxygen.
Producers
• Because plants make their own food, they are
called producers.
• Producers are also called autotrophs, or selffeeders.
From Producers to Consumers
Objective: Describe one way in which consumers depend on
producers.
Early Bird: What are the reactants (inputs) for
photosynthesis? What are the products (output) of
photosynthesis? Hint: Use your notes from yesterday.
Focus: Ask students to define the word consumer in their own
words and discuss as a class.
Motivate: Video on energy in ecosystems
Activity: Powerpoint and guided note taking.
Practice: Students record examples of consumers and how they
depend on producers.
From Producers to
Consumers: Video and
guided note taking
Objectives:
• Describe one way in which
consumers depend on producers.
From Producers to Consumers
• Organisms that get their energy by eating
other organisms are called consumers.
• Consumers are also called heterotrophs, or
other-feeders.
From Producers to Consumers
• Some producers get their energy directly from
the sun by absorbing it through their leaves.
• Consumers get their energy indirectly by
eating producers or other consumers.
An Exception to the Rule
• Deep-ocean communities of worms, clams, crabs,
mussels, and barnacles, exist in total darkness on
the ocean floor, where photosynthesis cannot
occur.
• The producers in this environment are bacteria
that use hydrogen sulfide present in the water.
• Other underwater organisms eat the bacteria or
the organisms that eat the bacteria.
Who Eats Who?
Objectives: List two types of consumers. Identify whether an
organism is a producer or consumer and differentiate between
different types of consumers.
Early Bird: Define the following words and give an example of
each: autotroph and heterotroph. (Hint: use your notes)
Motivate: Students share their answers to the Early Bird.
Focus: Review the different types of consumers.
Activity: Who Eats Who? Notes
Practice: Powerpoint fun quiz
Who Eats Who?
Notes and Quiz
Objectives:
• List two types of consumers. Identify
whether an organism is a producer or
consumer and differentiate between different
types of consumers.
What Eats What?
• Organisms can be classified by what they eat.
Types of Consumers:
• Herbivores
• Carnivores
• Omnivores
• Decomposers
Herbivore
any animal that feeds chiefly on grass
and other plants
Carnivore
a terrestrial or aquatic animal that eats
other animals
Omnivore
an animal that eats both plants and
other animals
Decomposers
An organism which eats dead organisms or
animal droppings and breaks them down
into simple materials.
Who Eats Who?
• Tear out a sheet of paper from the back of
your notebook.
• Be sure to put your name and hour at the top.
• Number from 1-10, skipping a line in-between
each number.
• Smile because this will be fun!!
Producer or Consumer?
Producer or Consumer?
What type of consumer am I?
What type of consumer am I?
Producer or Consumer?
What type of consumer am I?
What type of consumer am I?
What type of consumer am I?
What type of consumer am I?
Producer or Consumer?
In this picture, how does the
coyote depend on the sun?
Energy Transfer
Objectives: Describe what a food chain and give an example. Explain how
energy transfer in a food web is more complex than energy transfer in a
food chain.
Early Bird: Answer the question on the screen in complete sentences.
Focus: Discuss the Early Bird.
Motivate: Discuss that we are all a part of a food chain and food web.
Activity: Powerpoint and guided note taking.
Practice: Group Activity Creating Food Chains and Food Webs. Students write
organisms on index cards and categorize them by taping the cards to the
board next to the correct description. Then students rearrange cards in
food chains and food webs.
Energy Transfer
Food Chains/Food Webs
Notes and Group Activity
Objectives:
Describe what a food chain and give an
example. Explain how energy transfer in
a food web is more complex than energy
transfer in a food chain.
• .
Energy Transfer
• Each time an organism eats another organism,
an energy transfer occurs.
• This transfer of energy can be traced by
studying food chains, food webs, and trophic
levels.
Food Chains
• A food chain is a sequence in which energy is
transferred from one organism to the next as
each organism eats another organism.
Food Chains
Food Webs
• Ecosystems, however, almost always contain
more than one food chain.
• A food web shows many feeding relationships
that are possible in an ecosystem.
Food Webs
Trophic Levels
Objective: Explain why an energy pyramid is a representation of
trophic levels.
Early Bird: List three plants or animals and the animals that eat
them.
Focus: Discuss the Early Bird.
Motivate: Discuss the idea that insects outnumber all other
animals 4:1.
Activity: Powerpoint and guided note taking.
Practice: Energy Flow active reading handout.
Trophic Levels
Notes and Active Reading
Handout
Objective: Explain why an energy
pyramid is a representation of trophic
levels.
Trophic Levels
• Each step in the transfer of energy through a
food chain or food web is known as a trophic
level.
• A trophic level is one of the steps in a food
chain or food pyramid; examples include
producers and primary, secondary, and
tertiary consumers.
Trophic Levels
Trophic Levels
• Each layer of the pyramid represents one
trophic level.
• Producers form the base of the energy
pyramid, and therefore contain the most
energy.
• The pyramid becomes smaller toward the top,
where less energy is available.
Energy Loss Affects Ecosystems
• Decreasing amounts of energy at each trophic
level affects the organization of an ecosystem.
• Energy loss affects the number of organisms at
each level.
• Energy loss limits the number of trophic levels
in an ecosystem.