Producers Consumers and Dec Om Posers

7/31/2019 Producers Consumers and Dec Om Posers

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Environmental Science

ms. Ashwini

Vikas S Yaligar (11IT103)

Krunal Sonawane (11EC93)

Mani Shankar(11IT42)

Rajesh Kumar Bajiya (11EE65)

Vinay (11EC107)


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PRODUCERS, CONSUMERS &

DECOMPOSERS


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Organism which produces its own food by usingenergy from the sun

www.chappyspowerorganics.com/ mycinnoc.htmlwww.edhelper.com/plants.htm

www.tadininc.com/ tadin%20map1.htm

www.afaith.com/photos/ tree.jpg

ckso.uhome.net/gallery/ grass.jpg

www.snfisher.com/Plants/ thumbs_d/thumbs_p.html


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Consumer:

Organism which doesnt make its own food, but gets it

from eating plants or other animals

www.mnzoo.com/animals/ index.asp

www.busy-bees.com.au/

JIGSAWPUZZLES3years+.html

www.dandin.com/group.html

www.healthwell.com/.../D_Backs/

Sep_00/happymeal.cfm?path=hw

www.nhm.ac.uk/science/consulting/ cmdetail.html

www.saltlake-audubon.org/ birding/story.htm


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Decomposer:

Organism which digests or breaks down formerlyliving material

www.tiehh.ttu.edu/mhooper/ research.htm

www.nhptv.org/natureworks/

graphics/mush11.jpg

uc.rutgers.edu/medrel/photos/ bacteria-green.jpg

www.nhptv.org/natureworks/graphics/earth11.jpg


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Autotrophs

A groups of organisms that can use the energy ofsunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide intoGlucose (food)

Autotrophs are also called Producers because theyproduce all of the food that heterotrophs use

Without autotrophs, there would be no life on this

planet Ex. Plants and Algae


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Heterotrophs

Organisms that do not make their own food

Another term for Heterotroph is consumerbecause they consume other organisms in order tolive

Ex. Rabbits, Deer, Mushrooms


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Heterotrophs

Consumers

1. Scavengers/Detritivores feed on the tissue of deadorganisms (both plants and animals)

Detririvores consume detritus

Detritus- Decomposing plants and animals Ex. Vultures, Crows, and Shrimp


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Heterotrophs

Consumers

2. Herbivores eat ONLY plants Ex. Cows, Elephants, Giraffes


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Heterotrophs

Consumers

3. Carnivores eat ONLY meat Ex. Lions, Tigers, Sharks


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Heterotrophs

Consumers

4. Omnivores eat BOTH plants and animals Ex. Bears and Humans


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Heterotrophs

Consumers

5. Decomposers absorb any dead material and break itdown into simple nutrients or fertilizers Ex. Bacteria and Mushrooms


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Food Chains, Food Webs, Energy Pyramids

copyright cmassengale 15


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What is an ecosystem? System= regularly interacting and

interdependent components forming a unifiedwhole

Ecosystem = an ecological system;

= a community and its physical environment

treated together as a functional system


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OR, MORE SIMPLY an ecosystem is composed of the

organisms and physical environment of aspecified area.

SIZE: micro to MACRO


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THE RULES OF ECOLOGY

1. Everything is connected to everything else.

2. Everything must go somewhere.

3. There is no such thing as a free lunch.


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ENERGY FLOW IN ECOSYSTEMS

All organisms require energy,

for growth, maintenance, reproduction,locomotion, etc.

Hence, for all organisms theremust be:

A source of energy

A loss of usable energy


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Energy flow Simplistically:

This pattern of energy flow among different organisms isthe TROPHIC STRUCTURE of an ecosystem.

heat

Producers Consumers

Decomposers

heat


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It is useful to distinguishdifferent typesof organisms within these majorgroups, particularly within theconsumer group.

Consumers


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Terminology of trophic levels

We can further separate the TROPHIC LEVELS,particularly the Consumers:

Producers (Plants, algae, cyanobacteria; somechemotrophs)--capture energy, produce complexorganic compounds

Primary consumers--feed on producers

Secondary consumers--feed on primary consumers

Tertiary consumers--feed on secondary consumers


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More trophic levels: Detritivores--invertebrates that feed onorganic wastes and dead organisms(detritus) from all trophic levels

Decomposers--bacteria and fungi thatbreak down dead material into inorganicmaterials


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Group Terminology Of

Food Chain

Producers = plants etc. that capture energyfrom the sun

Herbivores = plant-eaters Carnivores = animal-eaters

Omnivores--eat both animals and plants

Specialized herbivores: Granivores--seed-eaters Frugivores--fruit-eaters


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Together, these groups make up a FOODCHAIN

E.g.: eagle rabbit grass

Carnivore Herbivore Producer


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Food

chains


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Rarely are food chains as simple asgrass -> rabbit -> hawkor indeed any other simple linear sequence of

organisms.

More typically, there are multiple interactions, so that

we end up with a FOOD WEB.


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FOOD

WEB


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Examples of food webs A forest ecosystem

Terrestrial and fresh-water communities

Ocean communities e.g.-English Channel


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Energy transfers among trophic

levels How much energy is passed from one

trophic level to the next?

How efficient are such transfers?


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Biomass--the dry mass of organicmaterial in the organism(s).

(the mass of water is not usuallyincluded, since water content is

variable and contains no usableenergy)

Standing crop--the amount of

biomass present at any point in time.


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Primary productivity Primary productivity is the rate of energy capture by

producers.

= the amount of new biomass of producers, per unittime and space


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Gross primary production (GPP)

= total amount of energy captured

Net primary production (NPP)

= GPP - respiration

Net primary production is thus the amount ofenergy stored by the producers and potentiallyavailable to consumers and decomposers.


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Secondary productivity is the rate of production ofnew biomass by consumers, i.e., the rate at whichconsumers convert organic material into newbiomass of consumers.

Secondary production simply involves therepackaging of energy previously captured byproducers--no additional energy is introduced intothe food chain.

And, since there are multiple levels of consumersand no new energy is being captured andintroduced into the system, the modifiers grossand net are not very appropriate and are notusually used.


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Ecological pyramids

The standing crop, productivity, number oforganisms, etc. of an ecosystem can beconveniently depicted using pyramids, where

the size of each compartment represents theamount of the item in each trophic level of afood chain.

Note that the complexities of the interactions in a food webare not shown in a pyramid; but, pyramids are often usefulconceptual devices--they give one a sense of the overall formof the trophic structure of an ecosystem.

producers

herbivores

carnivores

Ener y Pyramids Sh w


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Energy Pyramids Show

Amount of available energydecreases for higherconsumersAmount of available energydecreases down the food

chainIt takes a large number ofproducers to support a smallnumber of primary

consumersIt takes a large number ofprimary consumers tosupport a small number of

secondary consumerscopyright cmassengale 36


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Pyramid of numbersA pyramid of numbers indicates the

number of individuals in each trophiclevel.

Since the size of individuals may vary widely and may

not indicate the productivity of that individual,pyramids of numbers say little or nothing about theamount of energy moving through the ecosystem.

# of producers# of herbivores

# of carnivores


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Pyramid of standing cropA pyramid of standing crop indicates how much

biomass is present in each trophic level at any onetime.

As for pyramids of numbers, a pyramid of standing crop may not wellreflect the flow of energy through the system, due to different sizes andgrowth rates of organisms.

biomass of producers

biomass of herbivores

biomass of carnivores

(at one point in time)


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Producers Consumers and Dec Om Posers

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