Welcome to the Food
Production Department
1
Every place on Earth is an
ecosystem,
including
our club
site.
2
In today’s GEN club
adventure, we will investigate
food production
eco-services…
…on our club site!
What do organisms need to survive?
• Air
• Water
• Food
• Shelter
Where does all the food
on Earth come from?
The
Sun!
Plants use the
sun’s energy to
grow leaves, roots
and stems.
Animals and fungi
can use the plants
as their food.
The sun provides the energy
to fuel food chains.
What is special about plants? How are they
able to use the sun’s energy to make food for
themselves?
Inside many plant cells are special
structures called chloroplasts that can use
the sun’s energy to make sugars.
Chloroplasts can use carbon
dioxide and water from the air
and use the sun’s energy to fuel a
chemical reaction that forms
sugar molecules.
OK, so the sun helps
make plants grow, then
what?
Herbivores
• Primary consumers
• Eat plants, which gives them the energy they need
to survive.
Carnivores
• Secondary consumers
• They eat other animals,
which gives them the
energy they need to
survive.
Tertiary Consumers
• Also carnivores
• They eat other carnivores for the energy
they need to survive.
Food chains show how energy
moves from one group of
organisms to another.
But nature is complicated!
Energy really passes through food webs.
Food webs occur on land, in water,
and even underground.
Where is my food?
What happens when the food an animal eats cannot
be found for the entire year in one place?
MIGRATION!
Birds “fly south” for the winter.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds must migrate
when their food dies back for the winter.
Can Madame
Squirrel’s workers
produce enough
food for all Earth’s
creatures,
including people?
What Do You Think?
What are your favorite things to eat?
What Do You Think?
What would a bear eat from a “forest restaurant”?
What would a fox or a rabbit eat?
What Do You Think?
The next time you sit down to eat dinner…
imagine the food chains for the things on your
dinner plate!
Peggy Greb, USDA.
The Food Production Department
provides food for more than 6 billion
people
...and must provide for the needs
of all Earth’s creatures.
Food Department Threats:
single variety farming (monocultures)
Controlling herbivores and diseases
requires use of pesticides
How will we learn about the
Food Production Department?
Plant/Harvest
Vegetables
Owl pellet dissection
What can you do?
Learn about different ways to grow food.
What can you do?
Think
Organic!
What can you do?
Make your
school or
home “Food
Friendly” for
animals
Plant foodbearing trees
and nectar
plants