Heterotrophs that eat autotrophs, known as primary consumers, obtain nutrients by directly consuming plants or other photosynthetic organisms, thereby accessing the energy stored from sunlight. In contrast, heterotrophs that eat other heterotrophs, or secondary and tertiary consumers, obtain nutrients by consuming these primary consumers or other organisms higher in the food chain, thereby accessing energy that has been previously stored and metabolized.

Question

make this like a 7th grader wrote it

Answer 1

Heterotrophs are living things that can't make their own food, so they have to eat other organisms to get energy. Primary consumers are a special group of heterotrophs that eat autotrophs, which are plants and other organisms that can make their own food using sunlight. By eating plants or photosynthetic organisms, primary consumers get the energy that plants store from the sun.

On the other hand, there are secondary and tertiary consumers, which are also heterotrophs, but they eat other heterotrophs. This means they consume primary consumers or other animals higher up in the food chain. This way, they get energy that has already been stored and used by those other living things. So, in simple terms, primary consumers eat plants for energy, while secondary and tertiary consumers eat other animals to get their energy!