Food Chains and Webs

Food chains and webs
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Food chains and webs

The Sun provides the energy for almost all life on Earth.
Plants convert the energy in sunlight to stored energy in the form of sugars (glucose) using carbon dioxide (in the air) and water (usually from the soil through their roots).
Plants are called primary producers because they produce their own food. Plants are the first (primary) producers of useable energy for almost everything else.
Click above to play clip
% of original energy from the Sun
Energy from the Sun which has been stored in plants (as sugars) can be passed on and converted into different types of energy when it is eaten (consumed) by animals.
The animals that eat plants are called PRIMARY CONSUMERS (or herbivores).
100%
O
10%
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Click on image to see film clip of a primary producer
1%
C H A
Click on image to see film clip of a primary consumer
I The animals that eat the PRIMARY CONSUMERS are called SECONDARY CONSUMERS (or carnivores).
0.1%
Click on image to see film clip of a secondary consumer
After you have seen the film clips above, click here to continue
The daisy is seen across many school playing fields in Europe and North America.
The flowers are visited by many insects.

Click above to play clip The flower head is actually made up of hundreds of individual flowers.
Q. True or false: The daisy flower head opens in the day and shuts at night?
Click here for the answer
The daisy is seen across many school playing fields in Europe and North America. The flowers are visited by many small insects. Click above to play clip
The flower head is actually made up of hundreds of individual flowers.
Q. True or false: The daisy flower-head opens in the day and shuts at night? A. True this might be to escape frost.
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This harvest mouse feeds on grass seeds, cereals, berries, fruits and the young shoots of grasses depending on the time of year. It is a primary (first) consumer of the energy and nutrients stored in the plant (the fuel which powers food chains).
Q. Does all the energy stored in the plant get passed on to the harvest mouse? Click here for answer
Q. Does all the energy stored in the plant get passed on to the harvest mouse? A. No- not all the energy is passed on as some parts of the plant are not digested. However, very little goes to waste as bacteria and other microorganisms break down the remaining waste.
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This is a pine marten (related to stoats and weasels) hunting a vole. The energy stored in the vole (from the plants that it ate) is passed on to the pine marten therefore it is called a secondary consumer. Click above to play clip Q. If a golden eagle ate the pine marten, what type of consumer would it be?
at
consumer.
Click here for the answer
Q. If a golden eagle ate the pine marten, what type of consumer would it be?
A. A tertiary consumer which means that it is third in line in the food chain after the secondary and primary consumers. Golden eagles are both secondary and tertiary consumers because they eat herbivores and carnivores.
Q. Is a bank vole a herbivore or a carnivore?
Bank vole
Sharp gnawing teeth Good sense of smell
Whiskers help it to feel its way round in the dark Large ears to listen for danger
Click here once youve decided
A. Bank voles are mostly herbivorous and have a diet that includes fruit, soft seeds, leaves, fungi, roots, worms, grass, insects, snails, buds and moss. As you can see they also eat animals.
Q. What three living things in their diet indicate that they arent completely herbivorous (plant eating)? Q. What should they be called instead? Click here for answers
Click here for answers
Bank vole are mostly herbivorous and have a diet that includes fruit, soft seeds, leaves, fungi, roots, worms, grass, insects, snails, buds and moss.
Q. What three living things in their diet indicate that they arent completely herbivorous (plant eating)? A. Worms, insects and snails
Q. What should they be called? A. Omnivorous (eat plants and animals)
Is a common toad a primary producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer or tertiary consumer? Common toad Its skin contains toxins to dissuade predators
Toads are mostly nocturnal

They feed only on land
Click here once youve decided
A. Toads are carnivorous and eat primary consumers which means they are secondary consumers
They eat most animals that they can fit in their mouth including insects, spiders, earthworms, snails, slugs and even mice (see the video clip below). Q. True or false:
The toad can alter the tone of its skin to suit its surroundings? click here for answer
Q. True or false, the toad can alter the tone of its skin to suit its surroundings? A. Its TRUE. It can alter the tone of its skin to suit its surroundings
Food webs
Because it is rare that any particular living thing only eats one type of food you often get food webs which are made up of several food chains mixed in together. Which of the species below are producers and which are primary consumers? Click here to add primary consumers energy flow arrows
Food webs
Because it is rare that any particular living thing only eats one type of food you often get food webs which are made up of several food chains mixed in together. Which of the species below are secondary consumers? Click here to add secondary consumers energy flow arrows
Food webs
Because it is rare that any particular living thing only eats one type of food you often get food webs which are made up of several food chains mixed in together.
Which of the species below are tertiary consumers? Click here to add tertiary consumers energy flow arrows
Food webs
Because it is rare that any particular living thing only eats one type of food you often get food webs which are made up of several food chains mixed in together.
Primary producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer or tertiary consumer? Click here for final answers
Food webs
Because it is rare that any particular living thing only eats one type of food you often get food webs which are made up of several food chains mixed in together. Primary producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer or tertiary consumer?
Tertiary consumer Secondary consumer Secondary consumer Secondary consumer Secondary consumer
Tertiary consumer Secondary consumer
Primary consumer
Primary consumer
Primary consumer
Primary consumer Primary consumer
Primary Primary producer producer Primary producer
Summary
Plants can covert and store the energy found in sunlight. Some of this energy is passed on to animals that eat the plant. These animals are called primary consumers. Primary consumers get eaten by secondary consumers and a some (a small proportion) of the energy is passed on. Tertiary consumers feed on secondary consumers. When an animal or plant dies any remaining energy is passed on to the decomposers or scavengers such as bacteria, worms and fungi. This whole process is called a food chain and multiple food chains interlocked together are called food webs. See ARKive www.arkive.org for more film clips. Press the escape key twice to exit

Food Chains and Webs

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Food chains and webs

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