Trophic Levels/Energy Pyramid
Trophic Levels = describe the position that an organism occupies in a food chain - what it eats
and what eats it.
BMI’s: Write the names of the BMI’s that you collected and identified at the Cedar River in the
appropriate place on the pyramid.
Decomposers (detritivores) (scraper, shredder, filterer, gatherer): utilize energy from wastes or
dead organisms, and so complete the cycle by returning nutrients to the soil or water, and
carbon dioxide to the air and water.
Consumers (heterotrophs) (predator): organisms that feed on other organisms.
Producers: (autotrophs) utilize energy from the sun and nutrients from the abiotic environment
(carbon dioxide from the air or water, other nutrients from the soil or water) to perform
photosynthesis and grow. Producers are generally green plants.
Resources:
Spineless Ones (p.87-97)
Stream Bugs of King County (p.101-105)
http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/waterres/Bugs/role.htm
Write or type the
names of BMI’s in
the pyramid.
Decomposer
Consumer
Producer