All living things need energy to survive, and they are part of a food chain or food web, which show the pathways through which energy travels from producers to consumers.
In this context, producers (such as plants and algae) convert sunlight or inorganic substances into energy through processes like photosynthesis, while consumers (herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores) obtain energy by consuming other living organisms. The interactions between producers and consumers create a network that illustrates how energy flows through an ecosystem.