Ecology Bingo

Draw a 2 x 3 grid and fill it with 6 key words that you think might come up in today’s lesson...

Ecosystem CarnivoreConsumer ProducerFood chain Energy flow

Food chains and food webs

About how energy moves through food chains and webs.

WAL:

All

Most

Some

• How does energy enter an ecosystem and become transferred between organisms?

• What is meant by the terms: trophic level, food chain, food web, producer, consumer and decomposer?

• How is energy lost from the ecosystem?

Today we are covering from the specification:

Pages 64-65 of your textbook

How does energy enter an ecosystem and become transferred between

organisms?

• The ultimate source of energy for organisms found in an ecosystem is sunlight.

• This is converted to chemical energy by photosynthesising organisms and passed as food between other organisms.

Radiation from the Sun (solar or light energy)

is the main source of energy for all living things. The Sun’s light

energy is captured and used by green plants and algae during photosynthesis, to make new

biomass. 6CO2 + 6H20 + energy light C6H12O6 +

6O2

ProducerThe plant in the food chain - they make food by photosynthesis.

Primary consumer Animals that eat the producer. E.g?

Secondary consumerUsually eat animal material - they are carnivores e.g?

Tertiary consumer Eats secondary consumers e.g?

Quarternary consumer Eats Tertiary consumers e.g?

Omnivore Eats both plants and meat.

Trophic LevelPosition occupied by a group of organisms in a food chain.

Food chainDescribes a feeding relationship between organisms

Food web Many food chains linked together

CarnivoreAn animal that eats other animals and may therefore be a 2° or 3° consumer

Trophic level Each stage in a food chain

A few key words…

What is a food chain?

• Organisms need energy to live

• They get this energy by eating other organisms– E.g. A rabbit gets energy from the carrots it eats

• A food chain shows how energy is passed through a series of animals– E.g. Carrot Rabbit Fox

Consumers are organisms that obtain their energy by feeding on other organisms rather than using the energy of sunlight directly.

Stoat

Toad

Caterpillar

GrassProducer• Makes food from sun using

photosynthesis

Primary Consumer• Gains energy by eating

producers. • Usually herbivores

Secondary Consumer• Gains energy by eating primary

consumers. • Usually carnivores but can be • omnivores

Tertiary Consumer• Gains energy by eating

secondary consumers. • Usually predators but may be

scavengers or parasites

Trophic level

Food chains

• Food chains are diagrams that show which animals eat each other

• In habitats all animals and plants depend on each other

• If one animal dies out it might affect the other animals

Human

Cow

Grass

What would happen to the cows if all the grass died out?

What are detrivores?

Things that feed on detritus (dead or decaying material) giving it a bigger surface area for microorganisms to work on

LL 2008

Name some examples of detrivores

LL 2008

Microorganisms (Saprophytes) are things that feed by releasing enzymes outside of their body, digesting the food externally and then absorbing the digested food.

Decay is caused by saprophytes

Bacteria & fungi are saprophytes.

LL 2008

Constructing an ecosystem

• Within any ecosystem there are two main processes to consider:– The flow of energy through the ecosystem.– The cycling of elements through the

ecosystem.

• We are going to construct an ecosystem based on these two main principles.

LettuceMakes its own food using

energy from the sun.

GrassMakes its own food using

energy from the sun.

SlugEats lettuce.

AphidEats grass.

GrasshopperEats grass.

CaterpillarEats lettuce.

RabbitEats lettuce and grass.

SpiderEats aphids.

HedgehogEats slugs and caterpillars.

ThrushEats slugs and spiders.

VoleEats grasshoppers.

FrogEats grasshoppers.

Grass snakeEats frogs.

SparrowhawkEats voles and thrushes.

FoxEats hedgehogs, voles and

rabbits.

Constructing an ecosystem

• As well as the cards provided, you will also have to draw/add your own elements to the ecosystem as some are missing.

Constructing an ecosystem

• Cut out all of the cards and try to arrange them in a logical ecosystem.

• Once your happy, glue them down.• Draw arrows between organisms to show

the flow of energy (and therefore feeding relationships) within the ecosystem.

• Around the outside, list any abiotic factors which could affect the individuals in the ecosystem.

An example ecosystem

Food chains and food webs

About how energy moves through food chains and webs.

WAL:

All

Most

Some

• How does energy enter an ecosystem and become transferred between organisms?

• What is meant by the terms: trophic level, food chain, food web, producer, consumer and decomposer?

• How is energy lost from the ecosystem?

5,4,3,2,1 go… can you talk about food chains and food webs for 60 seconds mentioning as many as the key words

as possible?Producer Consumer

Food chain

Food web

Omnivore

Habitat

Trophic level

Energy loss

Heat

Quarternary

Decomposer

Respiration

Tertiary consumer

Secondary consumer

Primary consumer Detritivore

CarnivoreHerbivore