Edible Sunlight

Edible Sunlight — page 3 — People get that energy from food including plants and animals Animals get their food from other animals or from plants Plants are the source of all other creatures energy but where do plants get their energy They get it from food too but they make it themselves Think back to when you observed the sun’s rays shining through a window or a cloud Imagine if you could take a big bite out of those sunbeams In a sense you do that every time you eat Plants make food using energy from the sun and that same energy eventually makes its way to us in our food 6

Edible Sunlight — page 4 — Plants must have light to make Growing Toward the Light energy If they are growing in a place with limited amounts of light the plant will actually grow toward the light source This phenomenon is called phototropism You can watch it in action if you plant a seed in a pot and set it just out of reach of the window The new plant will grow toward the window to get the light it needs It starts with the sun’s rays Those rays are actually waves of light and heat coming into the atmosphere Energy that travels in waves is called radiant energy The sun is Earth’s main source of radiant energy But people’s bodies cannot use that energy in its raw form Plants convert and store solar energy into atoms and link them together into molecules These molecules contain stored energy When molecules are mixed together the chemical reactions that result release chemical energy the plant can use 7

Edible Sunlight — page 5 — Because plants make food from the sun they are called producers Creatures that cannot make their own food are called consumers Some consumers such as cows or rabbits eat only plants which makes them primary consumers They are also called herbivores or plant eaters Animals that eat other animals such as a cheetah dining on a gazelle are also consumers but they are secondary consumers called carnivores or meat eaters People are also consumers but we are omnivores because we eat both plants and animals herbivores primary consumers green plants primary producers 8

Edible Sunlight — page 6 — A third group called decomposers get energy from breaking down other living things including all producers and consumers Bacteria certain worms and fungi such as mushrooms are all decomposers The nutrients that decomposers leave behind become important building blocks for producers in one of the many cycles of life carnivores secondary consumers bacteria fungi certain worms decomposers Humongous Fungus What do you suppose is the largest living thing on Earth Most people might guess the blue whale but there’s something bigger growing in the forests of Oregon’s Blue Mountains A type of honey fungus called Armillaria ostoyae or shoe string fungus has been killing the trees of Malheur National Forest for at least 2,400 years and it’s all the same individual organism The decomposer covers 2,385 acres 965 hectares of the forest That’s equal to more than 1,800 football fields 9

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