Part 07 · Ecosystems and food chains · Card 5 of 11
Producer
An organism that makes its own food, usually by photosynthesis. Producers are the start of every food chain.
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Analogy
The farmer of the food chain.
In practice
Grass and algae are producers.
Practice
Flashcards
- Why is a producer always first in a food chain?It makes food from sunlight, so all other organisms depend on it.
Interview questions
- Explain why food chains rarely have more than five trophic levels.
- Only about 10 percent of biomass passes to the next level
- Energy is lost in respiration, movement and heat
- Energy is lost in waste and uneaten parts
- Not enough is left to support more levels
- Describe how carbon moves through the carbon cycle.
- Plants take carbon dioxide from the air by photosynthesis
- Carbon passes to animals when they eat
- Respiration and burning return carbon dioxide to the air
- Decomposers release carbon from dead material
Questions people ask
Why are producers called the base of the food chain?
Only producers turn light energy into chemical energy in food. All consumers, including humans, get their energy directly or indirectly from producers. Without them the food chain would have no energy source. On a pyramid, producers sit at the bottom as the widest layer.
Are there producers that don't use sunlight?
Yes. Near deep-sea vents there is no light, but some bacteria make food using the energy from chemicals such as hydrogen sulfide. This is called chemosynthesis. These bacteria support whole communities of tube worms and other animals, which shows that producers are not always plants.