They get eaten by first level consumers otherwise known as herbivores. The herbivores have digestive systems capable of using/digesting the sugars polymers in the plant's tissues.
producers
producers
Autotroph are producers which is life forms that can transfer solar energy into chemical energy. However, heterotrophs are consumers dependent on the chemical energy produced by autotrophs.
The energy in the producers comes from the sun. It feeds the consumers. The decomposers ultimately release the energy from the consumers and the producers that were not consumed.
producers obtain energy from water and sunlight, consumers obtain energy from producers and decomposers obtain energy from comsumers.
Energy is transferred between organisms in a community through the consumption of food. Producers, like plants, capture sunlight energy through photosynthesis and convert it into chemical energy. Consumers then obtain this energy by eating the producers, and in turn, are consumed by other consumers. This transfer of energy forms a food chain or food web in an ecosystem.
As energy transfers from producers (like plants) to first consumers (herbivores) and then to higher-order consumers (carnivores), a significant portion of it is lost at each trophic level, primarily as heat due to metabolic processes. Typically, only about 10% of the energy is passed on to the next level, following the "10% rule." This loss of energy limits the number of trophic levels in an ecosystem and emphasizes the efficiency of energy transfer within food chains. Consequently, ecosystems are structured with fewer top consumers compared to producers.
Energy transfer between consumers and producers is not 100% efficient. Some energy is lost as heat during each step of the transfer. Generally, only about 10% of the energy from one trophic level is transferred to the next level. This inefficiency results in a pyramid-shaped energy transfer model in an ecosystem.
Consumers mainly obtain energy from the food that they eat. This means that their source of energy will be from the producers.
Producers and consumers exchange energy and matter in various ways. The producers are used as food for the consumers and the consumers are used as fertilizer and food for producers when they die.
The biomass of primary consumers is considerably less than that of primary producers due to the inefficiencies in energy transfer between trophic levels. According to the 10% rule of energy transfer, only about 10% of the energy stored in primary producers is converted into biomass by primary consumers, as much energy is lost through metabolic processes, respiration, and heat. Additionally, primary producers, such as plants, capture energy from the sun and convert it into chemical energy through photosynthesis, resulting in a larger overall biomass compared to the energy available for consumers.
A food web diagram can be used to illustrate the relationships between producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers in an ecosystem. It visually represents how energy flows through the system, with arrows indicating the direction of energy transfer. Additionally, a pyramid of biomass or energy can also effectively display the relative populations and energy at each trophic level, highlighting the decreasing biomass from producers to secondary consumers.