Food Chains & Food Webs

A food chain is the path by which energy passes from one living thing to the next. All energy comes from the sun. Plants get their energy from the sun. Plants get their energy from the sun.

Producer

Plants are the “producers” of the food chain. Each food chain starts with a plant. First, it is the base of the chain starts. Plants make they own food.

Consumer

Consumers hunt, gather & store food to eat because they can’t make their own food.

Herbivore
Animals that eat plant

Carnivore
Animals that only eat other animals and meat

Omnivore
Animals that eat plants and animals (meat)

Decomposers
Microorganisms are able to break down large molecules into smaller parts.

Decomposers return the nutrients that are in a living thing to the soil

Predator - an animal that captures and eats other animals

Prey - The animal that is captured and eaten

What is a food web

A food web is a network of several food chains linked together.

A more realistic way of looking at the relationship of plants and animals is an environment

A predator from one food chain may be linked to the prey of another food chain.