Questions on Food Web Activity

Caitlin Barrett

1. The difference between a food chain and a food web is a food chain shows only a
simple line of predators however the food web shows the variety of different predators in a
population instead of just one.
2. Two primary producers are oak and fungi
3. Two herbivores are worms and ants
4. Two consumers are tree frogs and raccoons
5. The trophic level that has the most energy is the producers followed by the primary
consumers who benefit the most from the producers energy. There is a loss of energy at
each trophic level because not all energy is transferred when the predator eats the prey as
the prey has used some of its gained energy already.
6. At each trophic level about 90% of energy is lost.
7. It is beneficial to the whale because they can eat a lot of the plankton and because they
are producers they provide much more energy for the whale.
8. An autotroph is an organism that makes its own food through photosynthesis or
chemosynthesis. Two in the food web are oak and fungi.
9. A heterotroph is an organism that relies on other organisms for energy. Two in the food
chain are hawks and snakes.
10. If the turtle disappeared all things above it would die and would cause problems within
the food chain and effect many other species with a lack of food.
11. There would be an overpopulation of the species beneath it with no one to eat them and
if there were any predators in the area for an alligator they would die off due to lack of
food.
12. The entire community would be affected because many species feed off of trees and
this would cause the entire food chain and web to collapse.
13. In a nutrient cycle the nutrients found in the soil absorb into the water found in the
ground, the plants roots then absorb the water and the nutrients . The nutrients then travel
up to feed the plant and then are passed onto any produce the plants may grow such as
fruits or vegetables. These nutrients can be passed onto both humans and consumers
when they eat the plant. If the nutrients and plant remains uneaten, bacteria break down
the leftovers and allow them to return to the soil to be reused by another producer.

14. A cycle is continuous, generally shown in the form of a circle to show that it is never-
ending. A flow has a start and a finish and does not continue constantly in a circle.
15. Energy is a flow because it starts at the producers and then carries on until the last
consumer dies off, it is then passed to the decomposers but is not carried back around to
a new plant, it ends at the decomposers.