Desert producers include cacti and desert consumers include the bobcat. Both of these are important in keeping the desert ecosystem balanced and healthy.
A producer is a plant that makes its own food and provides food for consumers. Consumers are the animals that eat the food the producer makes.
Producers besides cacti include the hanging chain cholla, a tree that produces spiny branches, and desert shrubs. Producers use the nutrients in the soil and sunlight to create food.
Other examples of desert consumers include the Gila monster, snakes, rodents, bacteria, cottontail rabbits and hawks. Desert consumers have fur, feathers or other adaptations that help them deal with hot, dry weather.