Page 310 - ABCTE Study Guide_Neat

The initial use of sunlight by producers is the same in either representation; however, in a food web, more
pathways for energy flow from producers to different types of consumers and decomposers exist. Some
consumers, such as herbivores, eat only plants but are themselves consumed by secondary or tertiary
consumers. Other organisms eat both plants and animals, and all organisms will be decomposed. At each
stage, much energy is consumed for metabolism and lost as heat.

Another revealing representation of energy flow is the energy pyramid. With most energy from the sun
available to the producers, they are given the bottom portion of the pyramid. As you can see, only a
fraction of the energy received by plants is actually available to herbivores, and even less is available to
carnivores and decomposers.

Question

Autotrophs are organisms capable of producing their own “food.” They would be considered

A tertiary consumers.

B predators.

C decomposers.