Energy Flow in Ecosystems - Middle School Life Science

Tertiary consumer. Third-level consumer, eats carnivores.

Secondary consumer. Feeds on herbivores, second step from producers.

Primary consumer (herbivore). First-level consumers eat only plants.

It is lost as heat through life processes. Organisms use energy for metabolism and movement.

Less energy is available at higher trophic levels. Energy decreases as it moves up the chain.

An organism that breaks down dead matter and wastes for energy. Recycles nutrients back to soil for producers.

A feeding position in a food chain or food web. Each level represents who eats whom.

About $10%$. The 10% rule shows energy loss between levels.

An organism that gets energy by eating other organisms. They cannot make their own food like producers can.

Energy pyramid. Its triangular shape shows energy loss at each level.

Grass  rabbit. Arrow points from grass (eaten) to rabbit (eater).

Tertiary consumer. Count four levels: plant, mouse, snake, hawk.

Decomposers. Without them, nutrients wouldn't return to producers.

Sun  producers  consumers  decomposers. Energy flows one-way through all organism types.

Decomposers. This completes the nutrient cycle in ecosystems.

An organism that eats dead organic matter (detritus). Examples include earthworms and millipedes.

They eat secondary consumers and are higher-level predators. They're at the fourth trophic level.

They eat primary consumers and transfer energy upward. They're carnivores at the third trophic level.

They eat producers and transfer energy to higher levels. They're herbivores at the second trophic level.

A feeding level in a food chain or food web. Each level represents organisms with similar energy sources.

Food web. It's more realistic than a simple chain.

Food chain. It's a linear sequence of who eats whom.

Direction of energy transfer (from food to eater). Energy flows from the organism being eaten to the eater.

The Sun. Producers convert solar energy into food energy.