Food Chains and Food Webs

First, let’s look at the different kinds of plants and animals you would find in food chains and food webs: Producers: producers are organisms that create their own food. Plants are consumers because they use photosynthesis to create glucose. Consumers: consumers do not create their own food. They eat producers or other consumers. -carnivores: eat meat ONLY (ex: lion) -herbivores: eat plants ONLY (ex: deer) -omnivores: eat both plants and meat (ex: bear) 3. Decomposers: decomposers break down dead animals and plants.

Let’s start with FOOD CHAINS! A food chain is a series living things in which each one uses the next lower member of the series as a source of food. It actually looks like a long chain! Each living thing is connected like a chain link to what it eats and what eats it. PREDATOR: An animals that preys on other animals. An animal that kills and eats other animals as its food source. PREY: An animal that is hunted or killed by another animal for food 

The caterpillar eats the flower. The frog eats the caterpillar. The snake eats the frog. The owl eats the snake. The owl doesn’t eat flowers, but are flowers important to the owl’s survival? What would happen to this food chain if the flowers all died off? What would happen if there were no snakes?

Now, let’s look at some FOOD WEBS! A food web consists of several food chains linked together. Think of a spider web.

The arrows point towards what eats that animal The arrows point towards what eats that animal. For example there is an arrow pointing from the goat to the jackal. That means the jackal EATS the goat. What else in this web eats the goat? On your piece of paper, let’s break down this web into each food chain we see.

With the people at your table, discuss this food web With the people at your table, discuss this food web. Here are some questions to consider: What is at the bottom of this web? At the top? 2. How many different food chains do you see in this web? 3. What would happen to this food web if the frogs disappeared? And what if the grasshoppers disappear? 4. The owl and the snake are both competing for what particular food source? 5. List one of each of the following you see: -predator -consumer -prey -carnivore -producer -herbivore -omnivore

On your own, answer the questions on your sheet about this food web.