Food Movement Vocabulary
Essential Question:
How does energy move through a system?
Vocabulary Mapping
Definition
Sentence
Food
Chain
Colored
Picture
4
2
Examples
Nonexamples
The sequence of
who eats whom
in a biological
community.
A food chain shows
how animals are
connected in their
search for food
within an
ecosystem.
A _____________shows how each
living organism gets its food.
One path of energy.
Examples:
Non-examples:
A food chain shows how
• Human
each living thing gets
• Frog
food, and how nutrients
and energy are passed
• Cat
from creature to
• Ladybug
creature.
• Food Web
Food chains begin with
• Sitting down to eat
plant-life, and end with
dinner
animal-life. Some
animals eat plants,
some animals eat
other animals.
Vocabulary Mapping
Definition
Sentence
Food
Web
Colored
Picture
4
2
Examples
Nonexamples
The network
of all the
interrelated
food chains
in a
biological
community.
A _______________shows how the sun’s
energy moves from plants to animals
to other animals and ends with decomposers.
Everything is connected.
Examples:
Non-examples:
•
•
•
•
grassland
marine
desert
Tropical
rainforest
• arctic
• aquatic
• Grass—grasshopper—
rat—snake—hawk
• Algae—mosquito larva—
dragonfly larva—fish—
raccoon
• Phytoplankton—
zooplankton—fish—
seal—white shark
Two page Vocabulary Map TOP
autotroph
4
Examples
Definition
-trop:
Colored
Picture
2
-troph
Nonexamples
Definition
-troph
Sentence
Colored
Picture
4
2
Examples
Nonexamples
Two page Vocabulary Map bottom
auto- “self”;
-troph “an organism with nutritional requirements”
An Autotroph is
an organism that
makes its food
from light or
chemical energy
without eating it;
also called
An ______________ is a living thing that
primary
makes its own food from sunlight, air, and
producers.
soil. Green plants are producers who make
food in their leaves.
Autotroph
Examples:
• plants on land
• algae in water
• bacteria
Non-examples:
• animals
• fungi
hetero- “different”; “other”
-troph “an organism with
nutritional requirements”
An organism that gets
its energy by eating
other organisms.
Heterotrophs are
unable to make their
own food; they are
the consumer in the
food chain. They
must take food from
other sources to
All animals are called consumers; they need
survive.
to consume (eat) plants and/or animals; they
are also known as _______________.
Heterotroph
Non-examples:
• Plants that use
photosynthesis
such as: algae and
phytoplankton
• Venus-fly trap
• bacteria
Examples:
• Herbivore: a green sea
turtle eats sea grasses and
algae
• Carnivore: a tiger eats a
monkey
• Omnivore: a human eats
steak and vegetables
An organism that
eats plants.
herb- plant
-vore: eater
A deer eats grass and plants found in its habitat.
Since the deer eats only plants, it is a __________.
Herbivores are animals
which only eat plant
material. This means
leaves, flowers, fruits or
even wood.
Sheep, horses, rabbits
and snails are well known
examples of herbivores
which eat grass and
leaves.
Non examples:
• Meat eaters such
as: tigers, sharks,
bears, and hawks.
• Autotrophs-make
their own food;
plants, algae, and
bacteria.
An organism that
eats meat.
carn-flesh or
meat
-vore: eater
A leopard seal eats fish and penguins. It never eats
plants. Since the leopard seal eats only meat, it is a
_______________.
Non-examples:
• Veggie eaters such as:
Examples:
rabbits, hamsters,
• Carnivores generally
mice and deer. They
eat herbivores and
only eat leaves,
other carnivores.
flowers, fruits, and
• Bobcats, wolves,
wood and do not eat
hawks, snakes, frogs
any other animals.
and spiders.
• Autotrophs—make
their own food; plants,
algae, and bacteria.
omni- all or everything
-vore: eater
An organism that
eats both
plants and meat.
A raccoon eats other animals like crayfish, as well as
plant life. Since the raccoon eats both plants and
animals it is an ______________.
Examples:
• Omnivores eat both
plants and meat.
• Chickens are
omnivores. They eat
seeds, but they can
also eat worms.
• Human beings are also
omnivores, although
some people choose
not to eat meat. These
people are called
vegetarians.
Non-examples:
Herbivore: (plant eater)
mice, hamster, and horse
Carnivore: (meat eater)
coyote, owl, and frog
Autotroph: (makes it’s
own food) plants, algae,
and bacteria
A meat-eater that
eats autotrophs.
An example of a ________________
is a rabbit that eats grass.
A meat-eater that
eats primary
consumers
An example of a _____________________
is a snake that eats rabbits.
A meat-eater that
eats secondary
consumers.
An example of a _______________
is an owl that eats snakes.
A meat-eater that
eats tertiary
consumers
An example of a _______________
is a wolf that eats an owl.
An organism that
breaks down dead
organisms.
A _________________ is a living thing that gets
energy by breaking down dead plants and
animals. Fungi and bacteria are the most
common decomposers.
Examples:
• Decomposers and scavengers
break down dead plants and
animals. They also break down
the waste (poop) of other
organisms.
• Scavengers are animals that
find dead animals or plants and
eat them. While they eat them,
they break them into small bits.
• Flies, wasps and cockroaches
are scavengers. Earthworms are
also scavengers, but they only
break down plants.
Non-examples:
• Herbivore: (plant
eater) rabbit, deer,
and cow
• Carnivore: (meat
eater) human, seal,
and alligator
• Omnivore: (both
plants and meat
eater) bear, raccoon,
and monkey
• Autotroph: (makes
it’s own food) plants,
algae, and bacteria