Producers - plants
Producers are plants that get their energy from the sun.
Consumers - animals
Consumers are animals that get their energy from eating plants and animals.
There are three types of consumers:
- Herbivores – plant eaters that get their energy directly from plants
- Carnivores - meat eaters that get their energy by eating plant eaters (or smaller meat eaters)
- Omnivores – Some animals, such as humans, eat both plants and animals
Decomposers
Fungi and bacteria break down and release the nutrients in organic matter such as leaves.
Food chains
A simple food chain can show the flow of energy from one group of living things to the next. Image: LEARNZ.
A food chain does not often exist on its own. Feeding relationships are best described as a food web.
Food webs
Food webs consist of interlocking food chains. They include many organisms, each in turn a consumer and then a food source. An example of a food web in Lake Taupō is shown below:
A simple food chain can show the flow of energy from one group of living things to the next. Image: LEARNZ.
A simple food chain does not often happen by itself. How living things feed is best shown as a food web.
Food webs
Food webs are made up of more than one food chain. An example of a food web in Lake Taupō is shown below:
Food webs are very important for survival. If one food source disappears then another will be selected. Image: LEARNZ.
