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A deep dive into organisms that create their own food and support the rest of the ecosystem.
Imagine if you could make your own lunch just by standing outside in the sun! While humans need to go to the grocery store, some amazing living things create their own food from scratch.
In biology, a producer is a living thing that makes its own food. They don't need to eat other animals or plants to survive. Instead, they use a magical-sounding process called photosynthesis. By using energy from the sun, water from the ground, and a gas called carbon dioxide from the air, they create a type of sugar that acts as their fuel. Because they 'produce' their own energy, they are the foundation of almost every environment on Earth. Without them, other living things wouldn't have anything to eat!
Quick Check
What is the primary source of energy that producers use to make their food?
Answer
The Sun.
Producers live in almost every corner of our planet. On land, you are surrounded by them! Trees, grass, bushes, and even the tiny moss growing on a rock are all producers. In the water, producers look a bit different. You might see seaweed or lily pads, but there are also tiny, microscopic producers called phytoplankton. These tiny drifters are so small you can't see them without a microscope, but they produce a huge amount of the oxygen we breathe!
Look at this list of living things in a backyard: 1. A hopping robin 2. A tall oak tree 3. A fuzzy caterpillar 4. Green grass
In this list, the oak tree and the grass are the producers because they grow using sunlight. The robin and caterpillar must eat to survive, so they are not producers.
Quick Check
Name one producer that lives in the ocean.
Answer
Seaweed, algae, or phytoplankton.
Every food chain shows how energy moves from one living thing to another. Producers are always at the very start of the chain. Why? Because they are the only ones who can turn raw sunlight into 'food energy.' Think of them as the energy factories of the world. An insect eats a leaf, a bird eats the insect, and a hawk eats the bird. If you remove the plant at the beginning, the whole chain falls apart because the energy source is gone.
Let's look at a pond food chain: 1. Algae (Producer) captures sun energy. 2. A Small Fish eats the algae. 3. A Large Bass eats the small fish. 4. A Heron (bird) eats the bass.
The energy flow looks like this: . The producer must be first!
Imagine a deep forest where a thick cloud of smoke blocks the sun for a long time. 1. The plants (producers) cannot perform photosynthesis. 2. The plants begin to die. 3. The deer that eat the plants run out of food. 4. The wolves that eat the deer run out of food.
This shows that even the biggest predators depend on producers to start the flow of energy!
Which of these is the best definition of a producer?
Where do producers always sit in a food chain?
Phytoplankton are tiny producers that live in the water.
Review Tomorrow
Tomorrow, look out your window and try to name three different producers you see. Remember to ask yourself: 'Does this make its own food from the sun?'
Practice Activity
Draw a food chain of your own! Start with a producer (like a flower or seaweed) and draw arrows showing which animals eat it and what eats them.