![]() ![]() Some eat omnivores, and some eat other carnivores. Carnivores and omnivores are secondary consumers. Herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores are consumers. Autotrophs are called producers, because they produce their own food. Omnivores, creatures that consume a wide variety of organisms from plants to animals to fungi, are also the third trophic level. Herbivores, organisms that eat plants and other autotrophs, are the second trophic level. Autotrophs, organisms that produce their own food, are the first trophic level. Organisms in the food web are grouped into trophic, or nutritional, levels. Carnivores are a major part of the food web, a description of which organisms eat which other organisms in the wild. Organisms that carnivores hunt are called prey. ![]() Sometimes carnivores are called predators. It’s a great stress reliever!Īdults can help kids submit a question at /ask.A carnivore is an organism that mostly eats meat, or the flesh of animals. Learn how experts protect local wildlife and animals all over the planet.įeel free to chatter and chirp at the screen while you watch. Start with small, meaningful actions like putting out bird feeders or growing native plants. King told me kids can help protect animals and ecosystems, too. “I look at predators to see how an ecosystem functions and how we can protect that system.” “A big debate in science is how well predators act as that umbrella,” he said. That’s what King is studying right now in Honduras. If experts protect the jaguar’s ecosystem, that may help other animals that live there, too. That’s an animal – like the jaguar – that needs lots of room and prey to have a healthy life. King told me some animals are umbrella species. One reason scientists study predators is to help protect animals and ecosystems. That means a rich variety of living things. One sign of a healthy ecosystem is its biodiversity. Many animals, like our peacocks, are both predators and prey. ![]() Lots of living things interact in different ways. As a group, our peacocks might fare worse with the predators gone. With too many peacocks living close together, diseases may spread more easily. But the ecosystem only has food for 100 peacocks. Now there are 150 peacocks running around. If jaguars vanish from our ecosystem, the peacock population may boom at first. The peacock population won’t get too big partly because jaguars gobble them up. It can support 100 peacocks and 10 jaguars. Let’s say we have a super simple ecosystem of peacocks and jaguars. The maximum number it can handle is its carrying capacity. Each ecosystem can support only so many animals. Rainforests, oceans and cities are all ecosystems. “If you take away predators, you lose one of the factors keeping an ecosystem in balance.”Īn ecosystem is a community of living things and the world they live in. “It’s a balancing act between predators, disease, food and space,” King said. He studies big cats like lynx and jaguars. I talked about predators with my friend Travis King. It’s not pretty, but it’s an important part of keeping life in balance. My wild cousins do take things a bit further – namely, predation. Staring out the window and vibrating my mouth to “chirp” helps me relax after a long day. I enjoy chattering at birds as much as the next cat. Universe: What if there were no predators to eat the birds? – Katy, 10, Hawaiiĭon’t let the lab coat fool you. ![]()
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