2. Food Chains and Food Webs Created by Mrs. Miller T. C. Walker Elementary School Gloucester, Virginia Edited by: Ms. J Blake Shepard Middle School

3. What did he say?!

4. What is a Food Chain?  A food chain is the path by which energy passes from one living thing to another.

5. What’s in a Food Chain?  Producers  Consumers  Decomposers

6. Producers  Producers make their own food  Green plants use energy from the sun to make food  Producers are on the bottom of the food chain

7. Consumers  Consumers hunt, gather, and store food because they cannot make their own.

8. Three Types of Consumers  Herbivores  Carnivores  Omnivores

9. Herbivores  Animals who eat plants such as: – grasshoppers – rabbits – squirrels – deer – pandas

10. Carnivores  Animals who only eat other animals such as: – tigers – lions – hawks – wolves – cougars

11. Omnivores eat both plants and meat – They can be EITHER primary or secondary consumers.

12. Predator & Prey  Predator- An animal that captures and eats other animals  Prey- The animal that is captured and eaten

13. Decomposers  Microorganisms that are able to break down large molecules into smaller parts  Decomposers return the nutrients that are in a living thing to the soil

14. The last links in the chain are the decomposers. (They break things down) Like bacteria, mold, fungi, mushrooms If you die, they eat you. If you poop, they eat that. If you lose a leaf, they eat it. – Whenever something that was alive dies, the decomposers get it. The Decomposers

15. – Scavengers – =They eat the remains of dead organisms left by the consumers – - vultures, coyotes, hyenas

16. Let’s Look at a Food Chain  A food chain is a simplified way to look at the energy that passes from producers to consumers.

17. Tertiary consumers (3 rd order) – Eat the primary and secondary consumers ( CARNIVORES ) ex: wolf eats cat and squirrel Secondary consumers (2 nd Order) –Eat the primary consumers ( CARNIVORES ) example: cat eats squirrel Primary consumers (1 st Order) –Worms, insects, squirrels, mice: all eat plants ( HERBIVORES ) ex: squirrel eats acorns

18. Types of Food Chains  Aquatic- Water-related food chains with sea/water plants and animals  Terrestrial- Land-related food chains with land plants and animals

20. What is a Food Web?  A more realistic way of looking at the relationship of plants and animals in an environment  Several food chains linked together  A predator from one food chain may be linked to the prey of another food chain

21. Food Webs  How many food chains can you make from this food web?

22. Aquatic Food Web

23. Terrestrial Food Web

24. Let’s Review!  Summarize how energy derived from the sun is used by plants to produce sugars (photosynthesis) and is transferred within a food chain or food web ( terrestrial ) from producers to consumers to decomposers. Use at least 5 vocab words.  Summarize how energy derived from the sun is used by plants to produce sugars (photosynthesis) and is transferred within a food chain or food web ( aquatic ) from producers to consumers to decomposers. Use at least 5 vocab words.