Name _______________________
"What's for dinner?"
Date _____________
Honors Biology
Food Chain Worksheet
Read the passages below, and then answer the questions.
Trophic Levels
7. Give examples of 2 “higher order” consumers? _______________, _______________
8. What two types of consumers are missing from this pyramid? ________________ and _____________________
9. On the average, how much energy is lost from each trophic level? ________ Explain WHY.
__________________________________________________________________
10. Why are there so FEW quaternary and tertiary consumer in a food web? _____________
__________________________________________________________________
2
Practice questions:
3
4
Food Web Worksheet: MCAS Practice
Identify and answer:
1. Producers
2. Primary Consumers
3. Secondary Consumers
4. Higher order consumers
5. Herbivores
6. Carnivores
7. Omnivores
8. What consumers are missing from this food web?
9. What will be a consequence to this food web if the MICE INCREASE dramatically in numbers?
Why?
10. Predict what will happen to this food web if the OWL is removed from the ecosystem? (and explain)
11. Predict what will happen to this food web if the FOX is removed from the ecosystem? (and explain)
12. What is the difference between a food web and food chain?
13. Why is the endangered species list full of specialist and not generalists?
5
Investigation: From Land to Mouth
A field of corn contains a certain amount of food energy. If cattle eat the corn, they will gain some of the food energy.
How does the amount of energy in the corn compare with the amount of energy in the cattle? Is it more efficient to feed on corn or beef? In this activity, you will compare the energy content of some familiar human foods.
You will need: a calculator and colored pencils/markers
What to do:
The table below lists the average amount of energy (in kilojoules per square meter of land per year) in different organisms that people use for food.
Organism
Wheat cereal
Oranges and grapefruits
Energy (KJ/m 2 /year)
3 400
4 200
Ranking
Peanuts
Rice
Potatoes
Carrots
Other vegetables
Apples
Peaches
3 850
5 200
6 700
3 400
840
6 300
3 800
Beet sugar
Cane sugar
Corn
Milk (cow)
Eggs (chicken)
Chicken
Pork (pig)
8 300
14 650
6 700
1 800
840
800
800
Beef (cow)
Fish
550
8 a.
Organize the data from LEAST energy to MOST energy. (Do this under the
“Ranking” column in the table above) b.
Make a bar graph to compare the relative amounts energy in each organism: i.
Include a LEGEND:
Use one color for producers and another color for consumers ii.
Label bottom with the names of each organism iii.
Label the left side with the energy
Answer the following:
1. Calculate the AVERAGE energy of all the producers.
2.
Calculate the AVERAGE energy of all the consumers.
3.
Which organisms (producers or consumers) can offer more energy (on average)?
4.
(paragraph answer) Do you think it is more efficient for people to eat plant products or animal products? Why?
