DIRECTIONS

Turn this into the Canvas

Essential Questions: assignment page by
How does energy flow through food chains and food webs? Monday at 3:00 PM
How do living things depend on one another?

Learning Target:
I can design a food web and explain how energy moves through an ecosystem.

Student Directions:
❏ Complete the food chain/food web readings (slides 3 and 4)
❏ Review the food web example and the list of organisms (slides 5-6)
❏ Create three different food chains (slides 7-9)
❏ Food chain 1 must include at least 3 organisms
❏ Food chain 2 must include at least 4 organisms
❏ Food chain 3 must include at least 5 organisms
❏ Create a food web using at least 7 organisms from the picture bank (slide 10)
❏ Answer questions 1-8 using complete sentences (slides 11-12)
 READING - Page 1
Food chains and food webs show how energy moves in an ecosystem. Food chains are a simple model of the
feeding relationships within one pathway. Arrows are used to represent the flow of energy. The arrow should
always point from the eaten to the eater.

Elephant Owl
Sun Flower Ant Shrew

Food chains are useful because they are a simple model of energy transfer. However, they are unrealistic.
Species obtain their energy from multiple food sources. For instance, owls may eat insects, rodents, amphibians,
reptiles, and small mammals. Therefore, a food web is a more accurate model of energy transfer within an
ecosystem.
 READING - Page 2
A food web is a more complex model that displays the different feeding relationships within multiple
pathways.

Food webs are made up of different food chains and show us how species depend on each other to
survive. The removal of one species can disrupt the entire ecosystem.

How to Design a Food Web

● Start at the bottom of the page and work your way up the food web.
● Add the sun first since it is the ultimate source of energy.
● The energy from the sun transfers to producers (plants). Draw an arrow from the sun to the plants.
● Gradually move up the food web to show who eats whom
● Each time you add a new species to the food web, draw an arrow to all the other species that it
eats.
● At the top of the food web are the apex predators. These are organisms that do not have natural
predators.
● Refer to the example food web on the next slide before creating your food web.
FOOD WEB EXAMPLE
This is an example
of a food web
Fox within a forest
ecosystem.

Rabbit Mouse

Grasshopper

Grass Berries

Sun
 ORGANISMS
This is a reference sheet that shows pictures, names, and feeding habits of various organisms within the
African Savanna.

Grass Giraffe Bee Ants Elephant Lion Berries Zebra

Producer Herbivore Nectarivore Omnivore Shrew Carnivore Producer Herbivore
(gets energy (plant-eater that (eats nectar (eats almost Insectivore (meat-eater) (gets energy (plant-eater,
from the sun) eats acacia from flowering anything, (eats insects, from the sun) mainly grass)
leaves) plants) enjoys sweets mainly ants)
like berries)

Flower Mongoose Hyena Bee-Eater Bird Acacia Tree Owl Black Mamba African
Producer Omnivore Carnivore Omnivore Producer Carnivore Carnivore Elephant
(gets energy (mostly eats (meat-eater) (mostly eats (gets energy (prefers small (prefers small Herbivore
from the sun) small bees) from the sun) mammals, birds, mammals and (plant-eater,
mammals, amphibians, & birds) mainly grass)
reptiles, insects, reptiles)
& fruit)
 FOOD CHAIN #1
Finish the food chain by using at least 3 organisms from the picture bank.
To move an image, click and drag to the desired position.

Sun Bee Bee-Eater

Flower Bird Black
Mamba

Ants Acacia Berries Elephant

Tree Elephant Shrew

Giraffe Grass Hyena Lion Mongoose Owl Zebra

 FOOD CHAIN #2
Finish the food chain by using at least 4 organisms from the picture bank.
To move an image, click and drag to the desired position.

Sun Berries Ants Elephant

Shrew Mongoose Owl

Acacia Bee Bee-Eater Hyena

Tree Bird Black Lion
Mamba

Flower
Giraffe Grass Elephant Zebra
 FOOD CHAIN #3
Finish the food chain by using at least 5 organisms from the picture bank.
To move an image, click and drag to the desired position.

Sun Bee Bee-Eater

Flower Black Owl
Bird Mamba

Berries Acacia Ants Elephant

Tree Elephant Shrew

Giraffe Grass Hyena Lion Mongoose Zebra

 FOOD WEB
Owl Hyena Lion

Mongoose

Elephant
Shrew
Black Elephant
Mamba
Bee-Eater Zebra
Bird
Giraffe
Grass
Ants

Bee Flower Acacia

Tree

Berries
Sun C
 QUESTIONS
1. Producers are organisms that make food from the sun. What are three producers from the savanna
ecosystem?

Answer: Three of the producers are: Grass, Flowers, and Berries.

2. Consumers are organisms that must eat other organisms to survive. List at least four consumers from
the savanna ecosystem.

Answer: Four of the consumers are: Lions,Hyenas,Owls,and Elephants

3. Decomposers are organisms that obtain energy by breaking down dead matter and recycling the
nutrients back into the soil. Decomposers are often left out of food chains and food webs. However, they
are essential to life on Earth. What would happen if there were no decomposers?

Answer: If there were no decomposers dead organisms and waste products would not be broken down and
recycled into the ecosystem, also, no nutrients or minerals would enter the soil leading to a poor soil where
plants might have a hard time to survive or not even be able to grow. WIthout plants herbivores and insects
would die out and their predators would die out too, compromising the entire food chain.
 QUESTIONS
4. What do the arrows represent within a food chain or food web?

Answer: The arrows point from an animal to their predator(s), like how a producer’s arrow points to a
herbivore or omnivore, because those are its “predators”.

5. What is the ultimate source of all energy within a food chain or food web?

Answer: The sun is the ultimate source of energy, as all producers make food from its light, and without
the producers the animals would eventually die out.

6. What would most likely happen to the population of zebras if lions went extinct?

Answer: The Zebra population would grow bigger, as they would only have one predator: Hyenas.

7. Could the extinction of lions affect the grass population? Explain.

Answer: There would be less grass, as the primary consumer populations would grow larger than
normal.
 QUESTIONS Please answer in
complete
sentences.

8. In your own words, describe the importance of photosynthesis for webs. Why is it such an important
process for all organisms in the food web?

Answer: The importance of photosynthesis for webs starts with the sun.Plants use the energy from the
sunlight to convert C02 Into Oxygen, sugar and glucose, and glucose is used to provides as a backup
energy source for all plants, and also animals. Almost all living things rely on plants for food without
photosynthesis producers wouldn’t survive and the entire ecosystem would break down, as the primary
consumers that eat the producers would end up dying off because they would have no food, leading to
the carnivores dying off because they eat the primary consumers, eventually breaking down (not
destabilizing) the ecosystem.