What's for Dinner?
(Key Vocabulary)
(Key Vocabulary)
An organism that eats another organism to get energy is called a what?
Consumer
What does the "arrow" in a food chain represent?
The arrow represents the transfer or flow of energy from one organism to the next.
A food web is composed of many _____________.
Food Chains
What is the primary source of energy for most ecosystems?
The sun
What source of energy would it be impossible for life on earth to live without?
The sun
Where are autotrophs found in a food chain?
At the beginning/ starting the chain
What makes up the base or "first" link of a food chain?
Producers
True or false, Plants form the base of all food webs
True!
What forms the base of the energy pyramid?
Primary Producers
What are the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem?
Producers make their own food from the sun and provide energy to all other living things; consumers eat producers and other consumers; decomposers break down dead materials and recycle it back to the soil so that producers can use it to make food.
This type of organism can make or produce its own food.
Producer
Place these organisms in the correct order to form a food chain, including the decomposer.
whale plankton dolphin bacteria shrimp
plankton, shrimp, dolphin, whale, bacteria
Which shows more feeding relationships? A food web or a food chain?
A food web
What happens to the energy levels as you move up an energy pyramid?
Levels of energy decrease
Give an example of a decomposer, and explain what would happen if decomposers were absent from an ecosystem.
*Answers may vary; teacher will check responses for accuracy.
This type of organism is the last link in a food chain or web. Its role (niche) is to break down dead matter and return it back to the soil.
Decomposers
Place these organisms in the correct order to form a food chain, including the decomposer.
Hawk grass mushrooms mouse cat
grass, mouse, cat, hawk, mushrooms
What are trophic levels in relation to food webs?
The feeding position an organism holds in a food web
Organisms will lose about ____ % of all energy consumed in the form of heat; and will only retain ____% of the energy they consume.
lose 90%; Retain 10%
How would a food web be affected if a species disappeared from an ecosystem?
*Answers may vary; teacher will check responses for accuracy
Identify the three main categories of Consumers and explain their diets.
Herbivore - only eats plants
Carnivore - only eats meat
Omnivore - eats both plants and meat
Use the food chain to answer the following questions:
seeds ----> squirrel ----> fox ---->wolf ---> fungi
1. Identify the Producer of the food chain
2. Identify the Consumers
3. Identify the Decomposer
1. seeds
2. squirrel, fox, wolf
3. Fungi
Compare and contrast food chains to food webs.
*Answers may vary; Teacher will check responses for accuracy.
Starting at the base of the energy pyramid, name the percentage of energy available at each level.
100%, 10%, 1%, 0.1%
In a food web, when two different arrows are pointing away from the same organism what does this mean?
There are organisms competing for that food source.