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Carbon sinks and Carbon Sources

Carbon sinks are things that absorb more carbon than they let out. Some examples would be oceans and rainforests. Carbon sources are things that release more carbon than they absorb. These would appear as fires, respiration, and volcanoes.

Carbon

Carbon is the key element in all living things and is found almost everywhere. All living organisms have it and a lot of non living things also have carbon. Some examples are the atmosphere, some shells, and rocks. It also exists in fossil fuels, animals, and plants. How does carbon get there? Well there is this thing called the carbon cycle. The Carbon cycle starts in the atmosphere and is absorbed by plants in the form of carbon dioxide. Later, the plant is eaten by a primary consumer who gets that carbon from the plant. Finally, when the animal dies, it eventually gets turned into fossil fuels. These fuels are then burned to create energy and the carbon is released back into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. Carbon is also released into the air when you breath or from a fire.

What would happen if...

All the members of food chain are very important. If one wasn't there, then all the others would cease to exist. Most important is the sun. Without the sun, no life would be able to exist. If there was no sun, then there wouldn't be any producers. If there weren't any producers, then no herbivores or primary consumers could live. If there weren't any primary consumers, then all the secondary consumers, scavengers, and decomposers would die off also. This is why the sun is so important. Also, if there were no secondary consumers, then all the primary consumers would reproduce too much and eat all the producers and there won't be any food left for them and they would die out. This is why every single organism is important in the food chain.

Scavengers

Scavengers are the organisms in the food chain that eat the leftovers of the carnivores' dinner. They don't work for their meal! But being a scavenger isn't that easy. The don't always find a meal ever day. Some scavengers in the rainforest are: vultures, cockroaches, earthworms, termites, and catfish. The scavengers play an important role in the food chain. If there weren't any scavengers, the rainforest would be littered with carcasses of previous meals. Yuck!

Decomposers

Another group in the food chain are the decomposers. This group includes fungi, moss, and bacteria. These three organisms find dead things and turn them into things such as soil. Just consider them the trash collectors of the rain forest, but instead of throwing away the trash, they eat it to get the essential nutrients that they need.