web of wildlife. all living things need food to survive. –organisms obtain their food in different...

Web of Wildlife

• All living things need food to survive.

– Organisms obtain their food in different ways.

− Some animals eat plants, some eat other animals.

Food and Food Chains

• The feeding relationships between animals and plants in a habitat can be described with a food chain.

PREDATOR PREY

• Can you think what these words mean?

Lion Thomson’s gazelle

HERBIVORECARNIVORE

• Can you think what these words mean?

Cheetah Koala

OMNIVORE

• What about this word?

What is a food chain?

• Food chains show what eats what in a particular habitat.

• All food chains start with a PRODUCER.

Grass Rabbit Fox

What is a food chain?

Grass

PRODUCER: An organism, usually a green plant, that uses photosynthesis to turn sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into sugars (energy). AUTOTROPH

Rabbit FoxGrass

CONSUMER: an animal in a food chain that eats (consumes) a plant or another animal. HETEROTROPH

• Can be fungi or

bacteria

•Eat dead organisms

•They prevent too

much decay and enrich the soil with nutrients, saprophyte

Decomposers

• Break up bodies of dead organisms into smaller pieces

• Help decomposers manage dead organisms, faster decomposition

• Do not return nutrients to soil

Scavengers

What is a food chain?

• The links between animals and plants in a habitat can be demonstrated by drawing a food chain.

• Food chains show how energy found in food moves through a community.

Grass Rabbit Fox

The arrow in a food chain means ‘is eaten by’ and ‘provides energy to’.

What do you think the arrow means between the pictures?

Rabbit

Fox

Grass

PRIMARY CONSUMER

SECONDARY CONSUMER

TERTIARY CONSUMER

Coyote

Why do all organisms need energy?

Growth Repair damaged parts Replace cells at end of life cycle

10 C = PRIMARY CONSUMER: An animal at the second level in a food chain which feeds on the producer. Primary consumers are usually herbivores, feeding on plants and fungi.

20 C = SECONDARY CONSUMER: An animal at the third level in a food chain. Secondary consumers can be carnivores or omnivores.

30 C = TERTIARY CONSUMER: An animal at the fourth level of a food chain. This is usually the top level, and tertiary consumers are usually carnivores and prey on other animals.

A simple British woodlandfood chain

10 C

20 C

PRODUCER

CONSUMER

CONSUMER

HERBIVORE

CARNIVORE

PREY

PREDATOR

Food chains show how energy found in food moves through a community.

A Food Web is a series of food chains that represent

energy flow through an ecosystem.

Grass

Rabbit

Fox

Grasshopper

Lizard

Sparrowhawk

Hawfinch

A British woodland‘food web’

Grass

Rabbit

Fox

Grasshopper

Lizard

Sparrowhawk

Hawfinch

Energy in an Ecosystem

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/27995-assignment-discovery-energy-flow-video.htm

Energy Pyramid - Energy Flow in Ecosystem -Video for Kids by makemegenius.com - YouTube

Food Chains - YouTube

Changes to food chains

• INTERDEPENDENCE• Animals and plants depend on each other for survival.

• If something changes at one level in a food chain, it can affect all other levels in the food chain too.

Common toad eating young grass snake Grass snake eating common toad

Grass

Grasshopper

Sparrowhawk

Hawfinch

If a pesticide killed all the grasshoppers….

…what would happen to everything else in

the food chain?

Questions to think about…

• What happens if the producer in a food chain dies?

• What happens if one of the consumers in a food chain dies?– How does this affect the other species that prey on it?– How does this affect the other species that it preys on?

Activity

• Split into groups • You will be assigned a habitat – Arctic tundra, the

Antarctic, British coastal waters, British woodland or African savanna.

• Using the worksheet, describe your habitat, what the weather is like and the animals and plants you think might be found there.

• You will then be given species information cards for your habitat, along with photographs of some of the species that are found there.

• Using the information on the cards and the arrows provided, make the food chain for your habitat.

• Rotate around the room - you will have the chance to build food chains for each different habitat.

HERBIVORE: an animal which only eats plants.

Koala Rabbit

CARNIVORE: an animal which eats meat (other animals).

Cheetah Fox

OMNIVORE: an animal that feeds on both plants and other animals.

Producer

Consumer

PRODUCERS Plants are called producers because they make (produce) their own food.

CONSUMERS Animals are called consumers because they eat (consume) other plants and animals.

• Can you think of any animals that eat plants?

• Can you think of any animals that eat other animals?

• How do plants get their food?