Producers, Consumers & Decomposers
A food chain shows how energy passes from one living thing to another living
thing. It follows a single path as different creatures eat each other for energy.
All food chains begin with energy. This energy comes from the sun. The
greatest amount of energy in an ecosystem is found in its producers.
Producers use water, air, and sunlight to make their own food and food
energy. Green plants are producers. They are the only living things that
can make their own food. They use the sun’s energy to produce food
energy, which they store in their cells (photosynthesis). Some producers
include trees and bushes (leaves, fruits, berries, flowers), grasses, ferns,
and vegetables
A consumer is a living thing that eats, or consumes other
living things to get food energy. Consumers cannot make
their own food. When an animal eats or consumes a plant,
some of the food energy inside the plant is passed on to the
animal. Animals need this energy to live. Some animals that
eat plants include: deer, moose, whales, elephants, cows,
horses, pigs, rabbits, and squirrels.
Not all consumers eat plants, however. Animals like lions,
tigers, cats, wolves, sharks, walruses, polar bears, seals,
vultures, anteaters, and owls eat other animals to get energy.
Another kind of consumer eats only dead plants and animals. This kind of
consumer is called a decomposer. Decomposers break down the bodies of
dead plants and animals and help the food energy inside the dead bodies get
back into the soil, the water, and the air. Some decomposers include worms
and mushrooms. Green plants use this energy that has been put back into the
soil, the water, and the air to make more food energy with the help of the
sun. And so, the food chain begins again as the sun’s energy is passed from
one organism to another.