Created by Mr. Hemmert
Science ALCOS

L5.3 Tracing the flow of energy through
a food chain
 Example: producer, first-level consumer,
second-level consumer, and third-level
consumer
Food Chains
Every organism needs to obtain energy
in order to live.
 Plants get energy from the sun, some
animals eat plants, and some animals
eat other animals.
 Living things depend on one another to
live.

Food Chains
consumer

A food chain is the movement of food
energy in a sequence of living things.
producer
consumer
consumer
consumer
Food Chain Vocabulary
Consumers that are eaten are called
prey.
 A consumer that eats prey is a
predator.

Prey and Predators
Predators limit the number of prey
animals in a habitat.
 Ex. Wolves are predators of antelope.
They keep the population of antelope
from increasing too much, so the
antelope don’t eat all of the producers.
 Predators often compete for the same
prey. This limits the number of predators
in a habitat.

Level of Producers

Primary Producers - Organisms that
make their own food from sunlight.
Primary producers are always the base
(bottom) of the every food chain.
Levels of Consumers
First Level Consumers are animals
that eat producers (plants).
 They are also called herbivores (planteaters)

Levels of Consumers

Second Level Consumers eat first
level consumers. They are called
carnivores (meat – eaters) and
omnivores (animals that eat both
animals and plants.)
Levels of Consumers

Third level consumers eat second level
consumers.
Practice
What is the primary producer? _________________________
What is the first-level consumer? _________________________
What is the second - level consumer? ______________________
_
What is the third-level consumer? ________________________
Practice
leaf
bird
Primary Producer: _______________
snail
First-level Consumer: _____________
Second-level Consumer: __________
Third-level Consumer: ____________
fox
Decomposer: ___________________
bacteria
Resources

Microsoft Online