FOOD CHAINSCreated by Mr. Hemmert

Science ALCOS

L5.3 Tracing the flow of energy through a food chainExample: producer, first-level consumer,

second-level consumer, and third-level consumer

Food Chains

Every organism needs to obtain energy in order to live.

Plants get energy from the sun, some animals eat plants, and some animals eat other animals.

Living things depend on one another to live.

Food Chains

A food chain is the movement of food energy in a sequence of living things.

producer

consumerconsumer

consumer

consumer

Food Chain Vocabulary

Consumers that are eaten are called prey.

A consumer that eats prey is a predator.

Prey and Predators

Predators limit the number of prey animals in a habitat.

Ex. Wolves are predators of antelope. They keep the population of antelope from increasing too much, so the antelope don’t eat all of the producers.

Predators often compete for the same prey. This limits the number of predators in a habitat.

Level of Producers

Primary Producers - Organisms that make their own food from sunlight. Primary producers are always the base (bottom) of the every food chain.

Levels of Consumers

First Level Consumers are animals that eat producers (plants).

They are also called herbivores (plant-eaters)

Levels of Consumers

Second Level Consumers eat first level consumers. They are called carnivores (meat – eaters) and omnivores (animals that eat both animals and plants.)

Levels of Consumers

Third level consumers eat second level consumers.

Practice

What is the primary producer? _________________________

What is the first-level consumer? _________________________

What is the second - level consumer? _______________________What is the third-level consumer? ________________________

Practice

Primary Producer: _______________

First-level Consumer: _____________

Second-level Consumer: __________

Third-level Consumer: ____________

Decomposer: ___________________

leaf bird

snail

fox

bacteria

Resources

Microsoft Online