Flow of Energy

FLOW OF ENERGY

SOURCE OF ENERGY

Raise your hand if you included this on your schoolyard diagram.

The Sun provides the light and heat energy for most forms of life on Earth.

Sun = Sol

PRODUCERS

Producers chemically change solar (light ) energy in the chlorophyll (the green color in the plant) into their food.

Plants are producers.

FOOD Plants make this food for their own

use. They need the energy to survive and thrive.

Plants store the food in many places: roots, stems, leaves, and fruits.

Plants make food during the process called photosynthesis.

PHOTOSYNTHESIS

To undergo photosynthesis, plants need: Sunlight

Water

Carbon dioxide

Carbon Dioxide

PLANTS USE THEIR FOOD

Plants use food to grow.

Plants use stored energy (food) when the resources they need to grow and thrive are unavailable.

Plants use food to survive harsh environmental conditions, such as drought or cold winters.

CONSUMERS

Consumers are organisms that get their energy by eating either producers (plants) or other consumers (animals).

They use this energy to survive, grow, and reproduce .

FLOW OF ENERGY

Let’s look at some of the diagrams you completed in your science notebook on the first day of this lesson.

What do they have in common?

FOOD CHAINS When energy is transferred through

organisms it is called a food chain. Arrows are used to show the direction the

energy is flowing. In the schoolyard, you might see:

Remember, nearly every food chain starts with energy from the Sun.

EXAMPLE Use the strips of paper to

create a food chain for organisms that live in one of the Earth’s ecosystems. It might be the Arctic or the ocean, forest or desert, grassland or jungle.

Cut six strips of paper of different sizes, as shown here.

Color the widest strip yellow. This will represent the Sun.

EXAMPLE Write the name of a plant on the second

widest strip of paper.

On the third widest paper, write the name of an organism that eats the plant.

On the fourth widest, write the name of an animal that eats the organism on the second strip.

On the fifth and sixth strips, continue the sequence.

If you are unable to think of any organisms, name another plant, or a second animal, that may eat one of the organisms listed.

Carnivore

Carnivore

Plant

Carnivore

Herbivore

FOOD CHAIN

Link your food chain together beginning with the Sun. Add the producer and then the consumers (herbivores and carnivores). Use tape to secure the link.

Sun Producer Consumer:Herbivore

Consumer:Carnivore

Consumer:Carnivore

COMPARING FOOD CHAINS

Work in groups of four to compare the food chains that were created.

What do the food chains have in common with each other?

Could any food chains overlap with each other?

Flounder

Porpoise

Plankton

Small Mullet

Shrimp

FOOD WEBS When food chains overlap, a

food web is formed.

Use the chains in your group to form a food web.

Draw the food web in your science notebook.

Flounder

Porpoise

Plankton

Small Mullet

Shrimp

Trout Sea Gull

Crab

DECOMPOSERS Decomposers are organisms such as fungi,

bacteria, and animals that play a major role in

breaking down dead matter and returning

nutrients to the soil. They also play a role in the

nitrogen cycle.

DECOMPOSERS Add some decomposers to

your food web.

Flounder

Porpoise

Plankton

Small Mullet

Shrimp

Trout Sea Gull

CrabBacteria

Mold

THE MOST IMPORTANT ROLE

The most important role an organism

(producer, consumer, or decomposer)

plays in the ecosystem is ______ because

______.

COMPARE ROLES IN THE

ECOSYSTEMProducer

ConsumerDecomposer