Ecological Relationship - Oppositional Relationships - Predation - Diagraming Predator/prey Relationships

Diagraming Predator/prey Relationships

• Food Webs

The species that make up an ecosystem are connected in complex "food webs" of eater and eaten. Food webs show interconnectedness, especially between predators and their prey.

When one species disappears, its predators can no longer eat it and its prey is no longer eaten by it. Changes in these populations affect others.

• Energy Pyramids

An energy pyramid is a way of showing how energy flows through an ecosystem specifically on a certain food chain (predators and their prey).

Energy – The energy for all living things comes from the sun

Producers – Plants that capture the light energy and turn it into chemical energy (stored in sugar)

Consumers – Carnivores are consumers that eat meat

Ex. Lion eat Zebra

Herbivores – Consumers that eat plants (producers)

Ex. Chipmunks and Armadillos

Scavengers are consumers that eat dead animals

Ex. Vultures

Decomposers are consumers that eat and/or break down waste products

Ex. Fungus and Mold

Process for making an energy pyramid

1. Start with a food web

2. Find a food chain within the food web

3. Identify the trophic levels (Trophic Level-Steps in a food chain/energy pyramid)

4. Add the source of energy (usually the sun, but may also be chemosynthetic bacteria found near underwater volcanoes.)

5. Show the amount of energy in every movement

6. Show the energy that is lost