FOOD CHAIN AND FOOD WEBS JENNIFER ORLANDO

NYS SCIENCE TEACHING STANDARDS

• Standard 4: Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science. •  Key Idea 6: Performance Indicatory 6.1 a, 6.3a.

•  Plants and animals depend on each other and their physical environment.

OBJECTIVES

• Students will construct a food chain for a particular ecosystem.

• Students will create a food web based on their knowledge of producers, consumers, and decomposers.

• Students will discover the impact of environmental changes on a food web and it’s occupants.

FOOD CHAINS AND FOOD WEBS

•  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWh-XKhh8xo

• From what you know about ecosystems and the relationships within them, explain in your own words what Mufasa is trying to help Simba understand.

“Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance as king you need to understand that balance and respect all creatures. From the crawling at to the

leaping antelope.”

FOOD CHAIN: A SEQUENCE THAT LINKS SPECIES BY THEIR FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS.

EXAMPLE FROM LION KING:

Grass Antelope Lion

PRODUCERS VS. CONSUMERS

Producers: organisms that obtain energy from non living resources. (make their own food)

Autotrophs

Consumers: organisms that obtain energy from living or once living resources. (eat plants and animals)

Heterotrophs Decomposers: break down organic material

TYPES OF CONSUMERS

• Herbivores: eat only plants

• Carnivores: eat only animals

• Omnivores: eat both plants and animals

• Detritivores: eat dead organic material

TROPHIC LEVELS

•  Primary Consumer: first consumer above producer trophic level (herbivores)

•  Secondary Consumers: carnivores that eat herbivores

•  Tertiary Consumers: carnivores that eat secondary consumers

GROUP WORK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWh-XKhh8xo (1:35-2:25)

Create a Food Chain on the chalk board using the cards you were provided with.

FOOD WEB • A MODEL THAT SHOWS THE

COMPLEX NETWORK OF FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS AND THE FLOW OF ENERGY WITHIN AND SOMETIMES BEYOND AN ECOSYSTEM. •  Shows interconnection of food chains

EXIT TICKET

• Video Clip: (2:26-4:15)

Using what you now know about food chains and the dynamics of an ecosystem to explain what would

happen if a population of one species died out due to disease.

HOMEWORK

• Answer Questions at the end of worksheet.