Energy and Matter

Energy Flow

Cycle

Organisms and EnergyAlmost all energy on Earth comes from the Sun.

Producerschange the energy available in their environment into food.

*Chemosynthesis: producers sometimes get their energy from sources other than the light energy. A chemical process called chemosynthesis producers use chemical energy to make their food. Ex: some deep sea bacteria.

Consumerscannot make their own food and get energy by eating other organisms.

Herbivore: animals that eat only producers. Omnivore: animals that eat both producers and other consumers.

Carnivore: eat only other consumers Detritivore: eat dead plant and animal material. Ex: decomposer

Energy Flow

Food Chain: energy is passed from the plant to the grasshopper, to the mouse, then the snake, and finally to the hawk. When the hawk dies, the decomposers will break down the remains and return the nutrients of the hawk to the soil and back into the plants.

Food Web: more information than a food chain and shows the way energy travels through and ecosystem.

Energy Pyramidsthe amount of energy available at each step of a food chain and the amount of usable

energy decreases.

Matter Cycles

Like energy, matter is not created or destroyed. Instead it is transferred through the environment. Unlike energy, though, matter does not flow by moves in a cycle. It is used again and again throughout different parts of an ecosystem. Matter can change forms as it moves through an environment.

Carbon Cycle

Homework

• Read pages 325-332• Define vocabulary• Print/draw in notebook the following:– Food Chain– Food Web– Matter Cycles• Water• Carbon• Oxygen