Biology

Lesson 4.1:
Energy, Producers, and
Consumers
 OBJECTIVES:
1. Define primary producers.
2. Describe how consumers obtain
energy and nutrients.
 PRIMARY
PRODUCERS
➢ Autotrophs: organisms that can capture energy from nonliving
sources and convert it into forms living cells can use
○ Also called primary producers because they store energy in
ways to make it available to other organisms
➢ Energy from the sun
○ Algae and plants harness solar energy to build living tissues
through photosynthesis (converting CO2 and water into
oxygen and energy-rich carbohydrates like sugars and
starches)
○ Photosynthetic primary producers add oxygen to the
atmosphere and remove CO2
 PRIMARY
PRODUCERS
➢ Life without light
○ 1979-- biologists discovered thriving ecosystems inhabited
by strange animals living around extremely hot volcanic
vents in the pitch-black depths of the Pacific Ocean
■ The water coming out of these vents is rich in energy-rich
inorganic compounds----certain bacteria can harness the
chemical energy from these inorganic compounds
through a process called chemosynthesis and produce
carbohydrates for energy
■ These chemosynthetic bacteria live in the tissues of
certain worms and large clams
PRIMARY
PRODUCERS
 CONSUMER
S
➢ Heterotrophs (or “consumers”): organisms that must acquire energy from other
organisms, usually by eating them
○ Types of consumers:
■ Herbivores: animals that obtain energy and nutrients by eating plant
leaves, roots, seeds, or fruit
● Examples: cows, caterpillars, deer
■ Omnivores: animals that eat both plants and other animals
● Examples: snakes, dogs, cats
■ Scavengers: animals that consume the carcasses of other animals that
have been killed by predators or have died of other causes
● Example: vultures
■ Decomposers: “feed” by chemically breaking down organic matter to
produce detritus (small pieces of dead and decaying matter)
CONSUMER
S