Starter
Which of the following describes the ecological
niche of the beaver.
a) The beaver lives in marshes throughout North
America
b) Beavers are herbivores, and prefer the wood of
quaking aspen, cottonwood and willow.
c) Beavers do not hibernate
d) All of the above
Learning Intentions
• To understand how energy flows through an
ecosystem by creating food webs
Success Criteria
• I can identify producers, composers and
decomposers and can place them in the
correct order.
Living World Notes
Food Chain: The path by which energy
passes from one living thing to
another.
What does the arrow represent?
Arrow: represents the flow of energy!
NOT WHO EATS WHO!
What’s in a Food Chain?
1) Producers
2)Consumers
3) Decomposers
Producers
Organisms that take
non-living matter
(energy from the sun,
water, minerals, carbon
dioxide) and use it to
produce energy.
Consumers
• Organisms that hunt and gather food
because they cannot produce their
own food.
Three Types of Consumers
Herbivores
Carnivores
Omnivores
1)
2)
3)
Consumers- Herbivores
• Animals who eat plants such as:
–grasshoppers
–rabbits
–squirrels
–deer
–pandas
Consumers- Carnivores
• Animals who only eat other animals
such as:
–tigers
–lions
–hawks
–wolves
–cougars
Consumers- Omnivores
• Animals who eat both plants and
animals such as:
–humans
–bears
Decomposers
• Organisms which feed off dead
plants and animals
• Returns the nutrients back to the
earth
Let’s Look
at a
Food Chain
• A food chain is a
simplified way to
look at the energy
that passes from
producers to
consumers.
Food Chain Activity
Is it really that simple?
What is a Food Web?
• A more realistic way of looking at
the relationship of plants and
animals in an environment
• Several food chains linked together
• A predator from one food chain
may be linked to the prey of
another food chain
Homework
Food Webs
• How many food chains can you make
from this food web?