Name __________________________________Period ___________ Date __________
Food Web Lab
Instructions:
The next topic we will be discussing in Biology is the study of Ecology. Ecology is the
scientific discipline in which the relationships among living organisms and the interaction the
organisms have with their environment are studied. In today’s lab we will be discussing Ecology
and the flow of energy from organism to organism. We can show the flow of this energy by
making a food chain or food web. A food web represents many interconnected food chains and
pathways in which energy flows through a group of organisms. The most important thing to
remember when constructing a food web is that the arrows represent the flow of energy, not
which organism is being eaten. For example, cows eat grass to obtain energy. In a food web, the
arrow would begin at the grass and point to the cow because the energy is moving from the grass
to the cow. In today’s lab you will each make your own food webs using the information below.
The following organisms can all be found in a meadow. Construct a food web that includes all of
the following information. You must include a picture for each organism that is clearly labeled
to get full credit for this lab.
Red foxes feed on raccoons, crayfishes, grasshoppers, red clover, meadow voles, and
gray squirrels.
Red clover is eaten by grasshoppers, muskrats, red foxes, and meadow voles.
Meadow voles, gray squirrels, and raccoons all eat parts of the white oak tree.
Crayfishes feed on green algae and detritus, and they are eaten by muskrats and red
foxes.
Raccoons feed on muskrats, meadow voles, gray squirrels, and white oak trees.
Grading:
The lab will be worth a total of 20 points
-10 for having each of the organisms listed.
-5 for having each organism clearly labeled.
-3 for having your arrows going in the correct direction.
-2 for creativity and neatness. (You must do this lab on construction paper)
Example:
*this one is not labeled.*