S4L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem.
a. Develop a model to describe the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers in a community.
Relations Within an Environment
The relation of animals and plants, producers and consumers, in an ecosystem, is most often represented in a food web. These show the hierarchical relationships of the different organisms with common trends often being portrayed. Producers commonly are found at the bottom while varying levels of consumers are found throughout the upper region.
Producers
Producers are any type of organism, usually green plants, that create their own food through a process called photosynthesis. This process derives from the plant’s chlorophyll and its ability to use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon and water. Photosynthesis results in the production of glucose which is then used for growth, metabolic processes, or as food for future consumers.
Consumers
Consumers are any type of organisms, usually animals, that cannot create their own food and rely on other organisms for nourishment. Different species of consumers often consume contrasting diets that can be split into three categories; herbivore, omnivore, and carnivore. Herbivores are any organism that consumes solely producers or plants and carnivores are any organism that ingests solely consumers or animals. Omnivores eat a rich diet of both, a combination of plants and animals. An example of an ecosystem that has all of these differing diets represented would be a forest as you have omnivorous bears, herbivorous squirrels, and carnivorous hawks, falcons, and eagles.
Decomposers
Decomposers are the scavengers of the environment meaning that they feed on dead/decomposing organisms in the environment. They act as a natural recycling system that cleans up organic matter such as leaves, dead insects, and other organisms. Decomposers also contribute to the environment by providing vital nutrients by breaking down primary substances into elemental matter. Decomposers fall into two categories, specialized and generalized, and differ in what organisms they prefer to break down. Fungi, such as the Winter Fungus, only eat dead tree trunks while blue-green algae break down all material in an environment. Most decomposers however, are microscopic organisms including protozoa and bacteria.
Food chain
The food chain/web, as stated previously, is a hierarchical series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food. At the bottom are producers as they do not prey on any other species in their respective habitats. Next are herbivorous organisms followed by secondary consumers which prey on herbivores. Tertiary consumers which prey on herbivores and secondary consumers are then accompanied by top predators which are hunted by no other organisms and have no natural predators within their habitats. Scavengers are also found on this chain yet depending on the species, vary in placement and follow no real trend.
Model
Models are visual representations of a process or event. Food webs symbolize the relations between plants and their environment, predator and prey, and the ecosystem as a whole. Learning to read and create these models is vital to understanding how we can impact environments in safe and beneficial ways. For example, if a project centered around the removal of hay from an area we could see that hay is a wild rabbit’s main source of food. The removal of this species would be a detriment to rabbits and accompanying species on the food chain. To create a model of the food chain, select an environment. It can range from oceans, forests, deserts, wetlands, etc. For the sake of example, I will be focusing on wetlands in my example as that pertains to my project. Starting with the producers, phytoplankton, submerged aquatic vegetation, and vegetation, are the main producers in this ecosystem. These organisms help to create oxygen and to keep nutrients, such as carbon, phosphorus, and nitrogen, in balance. Zooplankton, herbivorous ducks, geese and mute swans would follow and be classified as herbivores. These species help to directly mitigate overgrowth in an environment as the producers are their primary food source. Next would be small planktivorous fish and bivalves which are primary consumers. The largest category of consumers follows which is secondary consumers. It is the largest classification as wetlands possess many different species of birds that are not inherently predatory in nature yet are large enough in mass not to be preyed upon. These bird species are gulls, terns, wading birds, sea ducks, and the tundra swan. Finally, the tertiary consumers of the wetland environment are the osprey and the bald eagle. If I were to create a model to simulate this chain it would look like this:
Activity
Now it’s your turn! Recall your selected environment from the last section and think about all of the animals that inhabit that area. Pick at least two species for each categorization, take out a piece of paper, and draw what you believe that the food chain would look like. Afterwards, look up those species’ actual roles in your selected environment and change your model accordingly.
Thank you for reading my Week 10 Upload and I hope the information was helpful in your academic journey!
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