What term describes an organism that eats other living things for energy?

• A. Consumer
• B. Producer
• C. Autotroph
• D. Decomposer

Answer: (A)

The main idea is how energy moves through living things in an ecosystem. An organism that eats other living things to obtain energy is a consumer. Consumers are heterotrophs, meaning they cannot make their own food and must ingest other organisms or their tissues. Herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores are all examples of consumers.

Producers, by contrast, are autotrophs that make their own food, usually through photosynthesis. Decomposers break down dead organic matter and waste to recycle nutrients; they don’t primarily feed on living organisms for energy. So the term that best fits an organism that eats living things for energy is consumer.