Producers,

Consumers and
Decomposers

All organisms in an
ecosystem need energy
to live. Organisms can
be grouped by how they
get energy. Organisms
in an ecosystem are
grouped as producers,
consumers, or
decomposers.
•You get your energy
from the food you eat.
•ALL the food energy
on Earth comes from
the sun.
•Without the sun
everything on Earth
would go hungry and
die in time.
 Living Things
• Living things are divided into 3 main groups:
– Producers
– Consumers
– Decomposers

•Each group has a certain role, or part to play

which is their niche.

•By the end of this lesson you will find out

what group you belong to.
 Producers
• Plants use the energy in
sunlight to make, or
PRODUCE their own
food, so they are called
PRODUCERS.
• Animals including people
cannot produce their
own food.
• You can make yourself a
PB&J. However, the bread
is coming from a bag and
the peanut butter is
coming from a jar.
Example of Producers
 Consumers
• Consumer means “eat.”
• As you gobble up your PB&J
you are consuming it.
• As a result, you and ALL
animals are consumers.
• Some consumers, such as
grasshoppers, eat plants.
• Other consumers, such as
birds, eat the grasshoppers.
• Then larger consumers, such
as a hawk, eat the birds.
Examples of Consumers
 Consumers
Some organisms must get
energy by eating other
organisms. These organisms
are called consumers.
Consumers can be organized
into three groups: herbivores,
carnivores, and omnivores.
 Herbivores

Herbivores are
consumers that eat only
plants. Since plants,
trees , and shrubs make
their own food,
herbivores get energy
from eating these
producers. In a forest
ecosystem, deer and
rabbits are common
herbivores. In a
savannah ecosystem in
Africa, zebras and
elephants are common
herbivores.
 Carnivores

Carnivores are consumers that eat only other

animals. In marine ecosystems, sharks,
walruses, seals, and octopuses are common
carnivores. In land ecosystems, lions,
wolves, hawks, and eagles are common
carnivores. Some carnivores are called
scavengers. These carnivores eat animals
that are already dead. Most of the time,
scavengers eat leftovers from other
carnivores. One example of a scavenger is a
vulture.
 Omnivores

Omnivores are consumers that eat both plants and animals.

Since they can eat a variety of organisms, omnivores can easily
adapt to changing environments. Pigs, bears, raccoons, and
humans are examples of omnivores.
Organisms such as fungi and bacteria get energy in a different
way than producers or consumers. These organisms, called
decomposers, get energy by breaking down nutrients in dead
organisms. As they break down the nutrients, decomposers
produce simple products such as water and carbon dioxide.
These products are returned to the ecosystem for other
organisms to use. Decomposers are very important because they
return nutrients and products to the ecosystem. One way to
think of decomposers is as recyclers. Termites and earthworms
are examples of decomposers.
 Decomposers
• Sooner or later ALL living things DIE!
• What if they did not decay, or rot away?
• Imagine what the Earth would look like?
 Decomposers
• Thankfully living things called decomposers cause
dead plants and animals to decay.
• Decomposers break dead things into tiny pieces.
• These pieces become food in the soil to help more
plants grow.
 Examples of Decomposers
• Mushrooms
• Earthworms
• Mold
• Tiny algae
 Land and Water
• Producers, consumers, and decomposers live both
on land and in the water.
Tiny algae in a pond are producers.
The tadpoles that eat the algae are consumers.
The bigger fish that eat the minnows are also
consumers.
Worms and insects living in the mud at the bottom of
the pond are decomposers.

v
 What is a food chain?
• A food chain is “a sequence of organisms,
each of which uses the next, lower member of
the sequence as a food source”
 What is a food web?
A food web is “an interlocking pattern of food
chains”
 Energy Pyramid
An energy pyramid shows the amount of energy
at each level of a food web.
 Discussion Question
• Think of a forest with foxes, squirrels, birds,
mice, mushrooms, and mold. Identify the role
of each living thing. Is it a producer, consumer,
or decomposer?