Transcript 3.4a & d Food Chains

Starter Activity: On a show me board
Choose an organism and state where it
gets its energy from.
Energy in Ecosystems
Learning Intention: Describe and explain what happens to
the flow of energy in an ecosystem.
Success Criteria:
• Construct a food chain
• Describe the path of energy flow in a food chain
• Explain how much energy is lost from a food chain
• Explain how energy is lost from a food chain
Food chains – what eats what?
What is the food chain in this habitat?
Food chains
A food chain shows what is eaten by what.
Each arrow means ‘eaten by’.
leaf
caterpillar
bird
cat
What does this food chain show?
A leaf is eaten by a caterpillar, which is eaten by a bird,
which is eaten by a cat.
Energy is transferred from one organism to another in
the direction of the arrow.
Feeding Relationships Key Words
Key word
Species
Population
Producer
Consumer
Herbivore
Carnivore
Omnivore
Meaning
Food chains
Drag the organisms into the boxes to make three food
chains.
Food chains – draw your own
Draw your own food chains based on the following
guidelines:
a) A food chain from a forest.
b) A food chain from an ocean.
c) A food chain with four organisms in it.
d) A food chain that ends with you!
Use arrows (
) to show the transfer of energy
between the organisms that you choose.
Antarctic food
Read the following paragraph about who eats whom in the
Antarctic and on a show me board draw a food chain that
shows the feeding relationships in this habitat.
Don’t forget that your food chain must start with a producer!
Killer whales or orca’s range around Antarctica hunting
for their food. One of the species that they eat are the
Weddell Seal. Weddell seals are large mammals that
stay in Antarctica all year round. One of the many
things that they eat are squid. Squid are very fast
hunters who often poison their prey. They feed on many
different organisms including shrimp. Shrimp are small
animals that live on the ocean floor. There are over
2,000 different species of shrimp all over the world.
They are omnivores but phytoplankton makes up a large
part of their diet.
Antarctic food chain – answer
phytoplankton
shrimp
squid
weddell
seal
killer
whale
Killer whales or orca’s range around Antarctica hunting
for their food. One of the species that they eat are the
Weddell Seal. Weddell seals are large mammals that
stay in Antarctica all year round. One of the many
things that they eat are squid. Squid are very fast
hunters who often poison their prey. They feed on many
different organisms including shrimp. Shrimp are small
animals that live on the ocean floor. There are over
2,000 different species of shrimp all over the world.
They are omnivores but phytoplankton makes up a large
part of their diet.
Energy Flow in Ecosystems
Watch the following video clips:
Energy in Ecosystems Clip 1
Energy in Ecosystems Clip 2
Answer these questions on a Show Me Board:
1. How much energy is lost at each level of a
food chain?
2. How is this energy lost?
Energy Flow in Ecosystems
At each level in a food chain 90% of
energy is lost as:
• Heat
• Movement
• Undigested materials
Energy in Ecosystems
Learning Intention: Describe and explain what happens to
the flow of energy in an ecosystem.
Success Criteria:
• Construct a food chain
• Describe the path of energy flow in a food chain
• Explain how much energy is lost from a food chain
• Explain how energy is lost from a food chain