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Plants for FoodPlants for Food

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Food chainsFood chains

A food chain shows where the energy goes in a food chain (in other words, “what gets eaten by what”):

Cabbage

Rabbit Stoat Fox

The arrows indicate where the energy is going

Plants convert the sun’s energy into

food

Plants are called “producers” – they “produce” the energy for the rest of the food chain through photosynthesis.

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Using plants for foodUsing plants for food

Fruits and seeds

Roots

Leaves

Stems

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Advantages

Helping plants to growHelping plants to growFarmers can use a number of chemicals to help plants to grow:

1) Fertilisers

2) Herbicides

3) Pesticides

Disadvantages

Disrupt food chains

Provide nutrients

NPK

Too much of it can kill pond life

Kill weeds

Kill pests

Disrupt food chains

08/04/23Another disadvantage of Another disadvantage of pesticidespesticides

Insecticides can wash into a stream or lake where they are taken up by microscopic water plants. Consider the food chain:

Although the level of insecticides in the plants is small, it will build up through the food chain due to the number of organisms in each stage.

Small plants KingfisherMarine insects

Fish