This week’s #STEMsigns are… ecology-related! Producer/autotroph, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer, apex predator, food chain, and food web!
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Transcript: This week’s #STEMsigns are… ecology-related! Producer/autotroph, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer, apex predator, food chain, and food web! Every plant and animal species, no matter how big or small, depends to some extent on another plant or animal species for its survival. The dependence creates a series of organisms consuming one another. The linear transfer of food and energy from one organism to another is called a food chain. In other words, it is the chronological order of who eats whom in a biological community. Let’s use life in the ocean as an example. The beginning of the food chain starts with a group of algae called kelps. They are producers (and are also known as autotrophs). Kelps use the sun as an initial energy source to make their own food through a process called photosynthesis. Next in this chain is sea urchins and they consume the kelps. The urchins are called primary consumers because they get the first transfer of energy after consuming the producers. The next trophic level is otters and they consume the sea urchins, thus making them secondary consumers. Finally, in this chain, the next and final level is orcas and they consume the otters – making them tertiary consumers and apex predators. Is the kelp-sea urchin-otter-orca food chain the only food chain in the ecosystem? No, there exists multiple food chains that may or may not involve the same organisms. All of the overlapping and interconnected food chains in a single ecosystem make up a food web.
