Food Chains

Decomposers are organisms that break down dead plants and animals, returning nutrients to the soil. Without decomposers, dead matter would pile up and nutrients would be locked away, making life impossible.

An energy pyramid shows how energy moves through the levels of a food chain. At each level, about 90% of energy is lost as heat, so only 10% passes to the next level. This limits the length of food chains.

A food chain shows the flow of energy from one organism to the next, starting with a producer and moving through consumers.

A food web is an interconnected network of food chains showing the complex feeding relationships within an ecosystem.

Producers make their own food through photosynthesis; consumers obtain energy by eating other organisms. Together they form the foundation of all food chains.