Environmental Studies(ES)

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Lesson 9: Producers, consumers and decomposers

Autotrophs or producers

An autotroph is an organism that makes its own food from inorganic substances. It is then eaten by a consumer if it is a plant for example. These organisms synthesize their own food by using energy from sun. eg: On land all green plants, in the sea, algae and sea weed are producers. The producers, green plants fix radiant energy in the presence of the green pigment, chlorophyll and with the help of minerals like magnesium, calcium, zinc etc. taken from their soil and aerial environment i.e. nutrient pool, they build up complex organic matter (carbohydrates, fats, aminoacids, proteins, nucleic acids etc.). Green plants are called as the converters or tranducers as they only produce carbohydrates not energy by converting radiant energy into chemical form.

Producers are organisms, like green plants, that produce organic compounds from inorganic compounds. These are also a type of autotrophic. Then green plants, for example, are eaten by consumers in this case, grazing animals like the zebra.