New
New
Year 10
AQA
Foundation

Producers, photosynthesis and consumers

I can explain why the survival of consumers depends upon photosynthesis in producers.

New
New
Year 10
AQA
Foundation

Producers, photosynthesis and consumers

I can explain why the survival of consumers depends upon photosynthesis in producers.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Producers use photosynthesis to make their own food in the form of glucose (a simple carbohydrate).
  2. Consumers can only get food by eating producers or other consumers; producers are the source of food for food chains.
  3. Consumers cannot use carbon and nitrogen from the environment to make biomass; they get them by eating producers.
  4. Producers and consumers use the carbohydrate from photosynthesis to make biomass for growth and as fuel for respiration.
  5. Consumers also depend upon producers to add oxygen to the atmosphere, which they use for aerobic cellular respiration.

Common misconception

It is a common misconception that consumers (including humans) could survive without producers.

The dependence of consumers on photosynthesis in producers in explored in depth.

Keywords

  • Producer - an organism that makes its own food

  • Photosynthesis - the process used by producers to make their own food via a series of chemical reactions

  • Biomass - the mass of biological material in one or more organisms

  • Cellular respiration - a chemical process that transfers energy for life processes, using glucose as a fuel

  • Consumer - an organism that eats other organisms for food

Try to avoid teleology in pupils' thinking. Plants make food to keep themselves alive, not with any intention of feeding consumers. And they make oxygen as a waste product of photosynthesis, not with any intention of helping consumers to respire. But we evolved to make good use of these products!
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which word describes an organism that makes its own food?
herbivore
omnivore
prey
Correct answer: producer
Q2.
Which organism in the food chain makes its own food?
An image in a quiz
Correct answer: dandelion plant
caterpillar
frog
owl
Q3.
Which organisms in the food chain are carnivores?
An image in a quiz
dandelion
caterpillar
Correct answer: frog
Correct answer: owl
Q4.
Which organism in the food chain is a primary consumer?
An image in a quiz
dandelion
Correct answer: caterpillar
frog
owl
Q5.
Starting with the organism that makes its own food, put these organisms into the order they would appear in a food chain diagram.
An image in a quiz
1 - rosebush (a producer)
2 - aphid (a herbivore)
3 - wren (a secondary consumer)
4 - sparrowhawk (a top predator that eats wrens)
Q6.
What is the name of the chemical process that makes food in the cells of a producer?
Correct Answer: photosynthesis

6 Questions

Q1.
Match each term to its correct meaning.
Correct Answer:photosynthesis,process used by producers to make their own food

process used by producers to make their own food

Correct Answer:biomass,all the biological material that makes up an organism

all the biological material that makes up an organism

Correct Answer:cellular respiration,process that transfers energy for life processes using glucose as fuel

process that transfers energy for life processes using glucose as fuel

Q2.
Photosynthesis in producers makes a sugar called glucose, which is a type of …
Correct answer: carbohydrate
fat
lipid
mineral ion
Q3.
How do producers use the glucose they make?
Correct answer: They use it in cellular respiration.
They use is it in photosynthesis.
Correct answer: They use it to make biomass.
Correct answer: They store it as starch.
It is excreted.
Q4.
Oxygen is added to the atmosphere by the process of in producers.
Correct Answer: photosynthesis
Q5.
Humans are consumers. Where do consumers get the carbon they need to build biomass?
An image in a quiz
Correct answer: They get it by eating other organisms.
They get it from the air.
They get it from water.
They get it from photosynthesis in their cells.
Q6.
Plants are producers. Where do producers get the carbon they need to build biomass?
An image in a quiz
They get it by eating other organisms.
Correct answer: They get it from the air.
They get it from food in the soil.
They get it from mineral ions.