Preview

Food Chain

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1301 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Food Chain
Introduce this section with the food chain discussion card called
‘Under the sea’.

Food chains are a flow of energy

Food webs exist in a delicate balance. If one animal’s source of food disappears, perhaps from a natural cause such as a drought or a killer disease, many other animals in the food chain are affected. Some populations may decline, and some explode. Humans are usually at the top of the chain and are often responsible for disrupting food webs.

All living things depend on one another to survive. Put simply, a food chain shows how each living thing gets food. At the bottom of the food chain are plants like grass on land, and phytoplankton or kelp in the sea.
Plants get the energy they need from the sun, and this energy is passed along the food chain as they are eaten by other living creatures.

Disrupting a food web can be a disaster!
A polluted section of the sea (e.g. from an oil spill) might block out sunlight which kills the phytoplankton, which are tiny aquatic plants at the bottom of the food chain. This means there are fewer plants for shrimp and small fish to feed on, so some starve. Larger fish have fewer shrimp or small fish to feed on and so they may starve too, or move to another feeding ground. This increases the pressure on other species trying to share the same food source.

Here is a simple food chain. Energy passes along the chain in the direction of the arrow. plankton shrimp

herring

cat

Some animals and fish are herbivores, and eat only plants, others are omnivores and can eat both plants and animals.
Carnivores eat only animals and scavengers eat whatever they can find – sometimes even dead animals. An animal which lives by killing and eating other animals is called a predator.
An animal is prey when another animal hunts it for food.

Growing human populations are demanding more food, and this puts pressure on many food chains. In some areas, fishers may catch too many fish. In

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    T.C Boyle’s “Top of the Food Chain” is primarily written in an enthusiastic and occasionally sarcastic tone. The speaker carries on about cause and effect while discussing a hazardous chemical in a developing country. The main argument in T.C. Boyle’s “Top of the Food Chain is that there is a consequence to every action.…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Know order of organisms in a food chain. (primary producer, consumers – tertiary, quairtinary, primary, secondary, and the role of the decomposer)…

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Everglades Food Chain

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The American Crocodile and the American Alligator are top of the food chain in the Everglades for now. The alligators have new competition with the Burmese Pythons. The Burmese Pythons are from Asia but invading the Everglades rapidly. Next would be the mammals like the white tail deer, bobcats, marsh rabbits, otters, and raccoons. Birds would be third and the amphibians fourth. Next would be Insects and then fish. Last but not least plants.…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    4.08

    • 533 Words
    • 2 Pages

    2. Look at the quote from Rachel Carson on the first page. What do you think the quote means? Use some of the terms we have covered regarding the topic of food webs in your one to two paragraph explanation.…

    • 533 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Solecki, W., Long, J., Harwell, C., Myers. V., Zubrow, E., Ankersen, T., Snyder, G. (1999). Human environment interactions in South Florida 's Everglades region: Systems of ecological degradation and restoration. Urban Ecosystems, 3(), 305-343.…

    • 1318 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Food Web Case Study

    • 1008 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A food web is a type of graph that depicts the relationship between the prey and the predators, also known as a system of food chains and how one another are related. This can be better explained as a connection in a community. Food webs are important because it is a direct illustration of the relationships among certain species within a certain community. Right away the graph will reveal the type of species, what they interact with, the structure in which the environment they are located, and show the relations between each species.…

    • 1008 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ecosytem Task 2 WGU

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Systems of Natural Science 114.2.3 Ecosystems Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem (Taylor & Allen) • The Bay is approx. 200 miles long, from Havre de Grace, Maryland to Virginia Beach, Virginia • The Bay 's width ranges from 4 miles near Aberdeen, Maryland, to 30 miles near Cape Charles, Virginia Major Components Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem Biotic Components (Living) • • • • • • 350 species of fish Crabs Shellfish Birds Mammals Reptiles and Amphibians (Bay stat) Abiotic Components (Non-living) • • • • • Water Quality…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Food Web Diagram

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Food chains allow us to examine the basics of how energy passes through an ecosystem.…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The book I chose to read for my summer homework was In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. Pollan has written many books regarding what to eat and how the foods we consume affect us. In this book, he opens with simple advice, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants” (Pollan 1). As straightforward as it sounds, Pollan quickly demonstrates how complicated this can be. Food is all around us. However, there are whole foods, stuff you’d find at a farmer’s market, and then there are the foods that line up the walls of our supermarkets, highly processed snacks and “foods” that contain a mirade of unpronounceable ingredients. Many of these foods processed foods, especially those that make health claims such as “low-fat”, “lowers…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frq Ecological Succession

    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The levels of organization of a community is simple. It starts with the primary producer, then the primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer, and lastly the decomposer. Some examples of producers are algae, sea weed, and any other type of potosynthetic organism. A pyramid of production is a pyramid that shows the loss of energy with each transfer in a food chain. At the bottom of the pyramid are the large amount of autotrophs with the most energy. The next (but smaller) level is the group of primary consumers (insects and other herbivores) who only get ten percent of the autotroph’s energy. Next are the small group of secondary consumers, who only get ten percent of the primary consumer’s energy. The top level consists of the smallest group, the tertiary consumers who only receive ten percent of the secondary consumer’s…

    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Dingo Research Activity

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Australia Research Activity #2: Dingoes Dingoes (Canis Lupus Dingo) are dog-like animals that are found in Australia. Their common fur color is a reddish brown, while the texture of the fur is short and soft. Black dingoes are very rare, more common in Asia than in Australia. The average Dingo is 20 to 24 inches to the shoulder and 46 to 61 inches from nose to tail tip. Males are naturally heavier built than the females, who are lighter in stature.…

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Bio and Food

    • 1266 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Table showing the weight of carbohydrates used, the weight of beakers containing the carbohydrates, and the weight of water used to dissolve the carbohydrates…

    • 1266 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    Value Chain

    • 2107 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Fan Linsheng 1, Han Yu2, Wang Na2 School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, P.R. China, 430070 2 Shijiazhuang Broud Business Consultation Co. Ltd, Shijiazhuang, P.R. China, 050011 (E-mail: fanlinsheng5700@sina.com, hy007@163.com, wangna2335721@yahoo.com.cn)…

    • 2107 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Food System

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Pigmentation loss and skin whitening is actually technically one of the side effects of glutathione and metathione. Though many people, especially in countries like Japan and China, use glutathione to lighten the complexion of the skin and return a youthful rosiness to it, that's…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    CHAINS FINAL CHAPTER

    • 299 Words
    • 1 Page

    Curzon and I had walked on for numerous days without food or water. Curzon's fever worsened. He was burning up and it took a lot of my energy to care for him. Regardless of that, we kept walking. After a few days, he recovered. Our rations were taken when we saw some American soldiers, leaving us with money and no food. I persuaded them that we were making our way back to our master, who allowed me to take my brother for a stroll since he was ill. At least part of that was true. Curzon found a marketplace and a tavern. They were both small and nothing like the ones we were accustomed to before. Then, we started arguing whether to go to the tavern or to go to the marketplace to buy food. "Let's go to the marketplace. We are more likely to be caught if we go to the tavern." Curzon said in quiet voice. "No, you need to rest. You're still ill." I said. Curzon encouraged me, "I'll be alright, what we need the most right now is food for the trip back to the Lockton's estate. Then, it hit me. I didn't think about it before, but, where are we? Were we in South Carolina? I bothered to ask Curzon, since he looked weary. After the long debate, we had decided to go to the marketplace. I did most of the talking so Curzon could rest a little. People stared at my scar as they walked pass us, but I didn't mind that. Curzon was breathing heavily. We walked to the tavern, hoping we wouldn't get caught. "Sleep some. I'll wake you up when it's time." I said. Curzon argued "No, we need t--" With that, he fell fast asleep.…

    • 299 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays