Consumers obtain energy by eating other organisms in an ecosystem. They cannot produce their own food, so they rely on consuming producers (organisms like plants and algae that make their own food through photosynthesis) or other consumers to get energy
. There are different types of consumers based on what they eat:
- Primary consumers (herbivores) eat producers directly, such as rabbits eating grass. They transfer the energy stored in plants to themselves
- Secondary consumers (carnivores) eat primary consumers. For example, a fox that eats a rabbit obtains energy from that rabbit
- Tertiary consumers are top predators that eat secondary or primary consumers, like hawks eating foxes
Energy flows from the sun to producers, then to consumers through these feeding relationships. At each transfer, some energy is lost as heat, which is why fewer organisms exist at higher trophic levels
. In summary, consumers obtain energy by feeding on producers or other consumers, forming the basis of food chains and energy flow in ecosystems
