The Plants

• The green plants of the temperate forest use sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide to sugars. These carbon compounds provide food for plant growth and nutrition for a variety of animals that feed on the plant matter. Advanced plants such as the trees and flowers produce fruits and seeds that provide food for animals, even after the leaves have dropped from the trees.
  
  

Consumers

• Many types of animals feed on the plant material to obtain their sustenance and nourishment. From small insects that chew on leaves to the moose which browses on aquatic plants, the web of life that feeds directly on plants is quite large.
  
  

High Order Consumers

• Predators may feed entirely on the carcasses of smaller animals or they may have a mixed diet that includes both plants and other animals. The higher level consumers range from the very small flycatchers, which feed entirely on flying insects, to the omnivorous coyote, which always seems to be expanding its range in the temperate forests.
  
  

Decomposers

• The decomposers such as fungi break down dead plant and animal matter. Like everything else in the forest, these organisms vary in size from the microscopic to larger macroscopic organisms such as puffballs and shelf fungi.