FOOD CHAINS
AND
FOOD WEBS
Interactions are the relationships that
organisms have within an ecosystem.
These relationships are usually defined by
the organism’s niche.
These interactions form food chains and
food webs.
Niche- an organism’s job within an
ecosystem
Words to Know
Producer – an organism that makes it’s own
food.
*Plants are producers.
Consumers – an organism that has to eat to
get energy. Consumers include herbivores,
carnivores, omnivores, and scavengers.
Types of Consumers
herbivore – an organism that
only eats plants
carnivore - an organism that
only eats meat
omnivore – an organism that eats both
meat & plants
Decomposers
• Break down (digest)
dead plants and
animals
• Bacteria and fungi
are two examples
• Decomposers reduce
dead organisms to
simpler forms of
matter
• Returns them to the
soil
What are food chains
and food webs?
The movement of energy through
ecosystems is shown in diagrams called
food chains and food webs.
Food Chain
• Shows how each living thing
gets food. Organisms
transfer energy by eating and
being eaten.
• Food chains begin with sun
energy moving to a producer,
but sometimes the sun is not
shown in food chain
diagrams.
• Arrows show the flow of
energy from one organism to
another and go in one
direction.
Build a Food Chain
Click on the links below to build a food
chain:
Build a food chain
activity.
Another food chain
activity.
Food Chain Game
Food Web
• A collection of
interconnected or
overlapping food chains
from the same ecosystem
• Arrows show the flow of
energy from one
organism to another. This
flow of energy branches
out in many directions
• Webs contain multiple
consumers and
producers.
Build a Food Web
Click on the links below to build a food web:
Food Web
Build an Aquatic
Food Web
Build a Food Web
Fun with Food Webs
Energy Pyramid
• Shows the amounts of
energy available at
each trophic
(nutritional) level of an
ecosystem
• Producers are at the
base – consumers
make up the other
levels.
• The higher in the
pyramid, the less
energy available
Find Out More About Energy
Pyramids
Click on the button below to learn more:
Energy Pyramid
Quiz
1. A lion is a __________ because it eats
only meat.
carnivore
herbivore
omnivore
2. A _________ is a producer.
cheetah
plant
grasshopper
3. True or False.
A food web can have multiple consumers
and producers.
TRUE
FALSE
4. Which animal would fit in the blank of this
food chain?
?
?
hawk
zebra
mouse
butterfly
5. The plant gets its energy from the
_______.
roots
stem
sun
flowers
CORRECT!!
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