FOOD CHAINS
AND
FOOD WEBS
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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