Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers
📚 Key Concepts
🔹 Producers (Autotrophs)
Producers are organisms that make their own food through photosynthesis.
Characteristics:
- Contain chlorophyll
- Use sunlight, COâ‚‚, and water
- Form the base of all food chains
- Also called autotrophs (auto = self, troph = food)
Examples:
- All green plants
- Algae
- Some bacteria (cyanobacteria)
Importance:
- Provide food for all other organisms
- Produce oxygen
- Remove COâ‚‚ from atmosphere
🔹 Consumers (Heterotrophs)
Consumers are organisms that cannot make their own food and depend on other organisms.
Types of Consumers:
1. Primary Consumers (Herbivores)
- Eat only plants
- Examples: deer, rabbit, grasshopper, cow
2. Secondary Consumers (Small Carnivores)
- Eat primary consumers
- Examples: frog, small fish, snake
3. Tertiary Consumers (Large Carnivores)
- Eat secondary consumers
- Examples: hawk, tiger, shark
4. Omnivores
- Eat both plants and animals
- Examples: humans, bears, crows, mice
🔹 Decomposers (Saprotrophs)
Decomposers break down dead plants and animals into simpler substances.
Characteristics:
- Feed on dead organic matter
- Return nutrients to soil
- Complete the nutrient cycle
- Also called saprotrophs (sapro = rotten, troph = food)
Examples:
- Bacteria
- Fungi (mushrooms)
- Some insects (beetles, flies)
Importance:
- Clean up the environment
- Recycle nutrients
- Prevent accumulation of dead matter
- Make soil fertile