food web assignment grade 9

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Ninth Grade (Grade 9) Food Chains and Webs Questions

You can create printable tests and worksheets from these Grade 9 Food Chains and Webs questions! Select one or more questions using the checkboxes above each question. Then click the add selected questions to a test button before moving to another page.

• biomass pyramid.
• ecological pyramid.
• energy pyramid.
• trophic level.
• heterotrophs
• feeding level
• energy pyramid
• dispersion.
• decomposers
• Ecosystems are easily understood.
• Ecosystems are complex with many interlocking parts.
• Ecosystems are not affected by human activity.
• Ecosystems never adapt or change to new factors.
• trophic level
• benthic zone
• It is an organism that makes its own food.
• It is an organism that eats other organisms.
• It is an organism that eats decaying matter.
• None of the above.
• heterotroph
• photosynthesizer
• any organism
• any organism that obtains energy
• any organism that obtains energy from other life forms
• any organism that produces its own food
• meat and plants
• decomposing organic matter
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Food Web: Concept and Applications

Introduction

There are two types of food chains: the grazing food chain, beginning with autotrophs, and the detrital food chain, beginning with dead organic matter (Smith & Smith 2009). In a grazing food chain, energy and nutrients move from plants to the herbivores consuming them, and to the carnivores or omnivores preying upon the herbivores. In a detrital food chain, dead organic matter of plants and animals is broken down by decomposers, e.g., bacteria and fungi, and moves to detritivores and then carnivores.

Food web offers an important tool for investigating the ecological interactions that define energy flows and predator-prey relationship (Cain et al. 2008). Figure 1 shows a simplified food web in a desert ecosystem. In this food web, grasshoppers feed on plants; scorpions prey on grasshoppers; kit foxes prey on scorpions. While the food web showed here is a simple one, most feed webs are complex and involve many species with both strong and weak interactions among them (Pimm et al. 1991). For example, the predators of a scorpion in a desert ecosystem might be a golden eagle, an owl, a roadrunner, or a fox.

The idea to apply the food chains to ecology and to analyze its consequences was first proposed by Charles Elton (Krebs 2009). In 1927, he recognized that the length of these food chains was mostly limited to 4 or 5 links and the food chains were not isolated, but hooked together into food webs (which he called "food cycles"). The feeding interactions represented by the food web may have profound effects on species richness of community, and ecosystem productivity and stability (Ricklefs 2008).

Types of Food Webs

Applications of food webs, food webs are constructed to describe species interactions (direct relationships)..

The fundamental purpose of food webs is to describe feeding relationship among species in a community. Food webs can be constructed to describe the species interactions. All species in the food webs can be distinguished into basal species (autotrophs, such as plants), intermediate species (herbivores and intermediate level carnivores, such as grasshopper and scorpion) or top predators (high level carnivores such as fox) (Figure 1).

These feeding groups are referred as trophic levels. Basal species occupy the lowest trophic level as primary producer. They convert inorganic chemical and use solar energy to generate chemical energy. The second trophic level consists of herbivores. These are first consumers. The remaining trophic levels include carnivores that consume animals at trophic levels below them. The second consumers (trophic level 3) in the desert food web include birds and scorpions, and tertiary consumers making up the fourth trophic level include bird predators and foxes. Grouping all species into different functional groups or tropic levels helps us simplify and understand the relationships among these species.

Food webs can be used to illustrate indirect interactions among species.

Indirect interaction occurs when two species do not interact with each other directly, but influenced by a third species. Species can influence one another in many different ways. One example is the keystone predation are demonstrated by Robert Paine in an experiment conducted in the rocky intertidal zone (Cain et al. 2008; Smith & Smith 2009; Molles 2010). This study showed that predation can influence the competition among species in a food web. The intertidal zone is home to a variety of mussels, barnacles, limpets, and chitons (Paine 1969). All these invertebrate herbivores are preyed upon by the predator starfish Pisaster (Figure 3). Starfish was relatively uncommon in the intertidal zone, and considered less important in the community. When Paine manually removed the starfish from experimental plots while leaving other areas undisturbed as control plots, he found that the number of prey species in the experimental plots dropped from 15 at the beginning of the experiment to 8 (a loss of 7 species) two years after the starfish removal while the total of prey species remained the same in the control plots. He reasoned that in the absence of the predator starfish, several of the mussel and barnacle species (that were superior competitors) excluded the other species and reduced overall diversity in the community (Smith & Smith 2009). Predation by starfish reduced the abundance of mussel and opened up space for other species to colonize and persist. This type of indirect interaction is called keystone predation.

Food webs can be used to study bottom-up or top-down control of community structure.

Top-down control occurs when the population density of a consumer can control that of its resource, for example, predator populations can control the abundance of prey species (Power 1992). Under top-down control, the abundance or biomass of lower trophic levels depends on effects from consumers at higher trophic levels. A trophic cascade is a type of top-down interaction that describes the indirect effects of predators. In a trophic cascade, predators induce effects that cascade down the food chain and affect biomass of organisms at least two links away (Ricklefs 2008). Nelson Hairston, Frederick Smith and Larry Slobodkin first introduced the concept of top-down control with the frequently quoted "the world is green" proposition (Power 1992; Smith & Smith 2009). They proposed that the world is green because carnivores depress herbivores and keep herbivore populations in check. Otherwise, herbivores would consume most of the vegetation. Indeed, a bird exclusion study demonstrated that there were significantly more insects and leaf damage in plots without birds compared to the control (Marquis & Whelan 1994).

Food webs can be used to reveal different patterns of energy transfer in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

As a diagram tool, food web has been approved to be effective in illustrating species interactions and testing research hypotheses. It will continue to be very helpful for us to understand the associations of species richness/diversity with food web complexity, ecosystem productivity, and stability.

References and Recommended Reading

Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. & Hacker, S. D. Ecology . Sunderland MA: Sinauer Associate Inc. 2008.

Cebrian, J. Patterns in the fate of production in plant communities. American Naturalist 154 , 449-468 (1999)

Cebrian, J. Role of first-order consumers in ecosystem carbon flow. Ecology Letters 7 , 232-240 (2004)

Elton, C. S. Animal Ecology . Chicago, MI: University of Chicago Press, 1927, Republished 2001.

Knight, T. M., et al. Trophic cascades across ecosystems. Nature 437 , 880-883 (2005)

Krebs, C. J. Ecology 6 th ed. San Francisco CA: Pearson Benjamin Cummings, 2009.

Marquis, R. J. & Whelan, C. Insectivorous birds increase growth of white oak through consumption of leaf-chewing insects. Ecology 75 , 2007-2017 (1994)

Molles, M. C. Jr. Ecology: Concepts and Applications 5 th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2010.

Paine, R. T. The Pisaster-Tegula interaction: Prey parches, predator food preferences and intertide community structure. Ecology 60 , 950-961 (1969)

Paine, R. T. Food web complexity and species diversity. The American Naturalist 100 , 65-75 (1966)

Paine, R. T. Food webs: Linkage, interaction strength and community infrastructure. Journal of Animal Ecology 49 , 667-685 (1980)

Pimm, S. L., Lawton, J. H. & Cohen, J. E. Food web patterns and their consequences. Nature 350 , 669-674 (1991)

Power, M. E. Top-down and bottom-up forces in food webs: do plants have primacy? Ecology 73 , 733-746 (1992)

Schoender, T. W. Food webs from the small to the large. Ecology 70 , 1559-1589 (1989)

Shurin, J. B., Gruner, D. S. & Hillebrand, H. All wet dried up? Real differences between aquatic and terrestrial food webs. Proc. R. Soc. B 273 , 1-9 (2006) doi:10.1098/rspb.2005.3377

Smith, T. M. & Smith, R. L. Elements of Ecology 7 th ed. San Francisco CA: Pearson Benjamin Cummings, 2009.

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Assignment: Food Webs

Created by Sandra T on 12/20/2021

10 activities: 10 games

Activity 1: Instructional Game. Estimated duration: 20 min

Digiworld Adventure: Learn Food Webs

Go on an awesome adventure to the Digiworld and learn Food Webs together with Dr. Web! Play as Jessie / Jasson and learn more about organisms, ecosystems, and how food webs work.

Teacher Ratings (10) 3.7 stars.

Student Ratings (3560) 3.8 stars.

Activity 2: Instructional Game. Estimated duration: 10 min

Food Webs: Adventure of the Energy (Elem)

A fairy named Elva is going to help you learn about ecosystems and the role each organism has in an ecosystem. You will start with the sun and explore the roles of producers, primary and secondary consumers, and decomposers. You will follow energy as it moves between each organism. You'll enjoy witnessing how energy continuously moves.

Teacher Ratings (50) 3.9 stars.

Student Ratings (15609) 3.8 stars.

Activity 3: Instructional Game. Estimated duration: 13 min

Predator Vs Prey

Predator Vs Prey is an interactive game for students. They will have fun at each level and will navigate the food web by playing as various producers, consumers, and decomposers!

Teacher Ratings (215) 4.1 stars.

Student Ratings (39803) 4.0 stars.

Activity 4: Instructional Game. Estimated duration: 11 min

Cycles of Matter

Take an interactive tour of the cycles of matter to learn how energy flows between organisms!

Teacher Ratings (103) 4.2 stars.

Student Ratings (29820) 3.7 stars.

Activity 5: Instructional Game. Estimated duration: 9 min

Biosphere Architect

Students act as biosphere architects! Their goal is to develop a sustainable, balanced ecosystem in which producers, herbivores, carnivores, and decomposers interact and thrive.

Teacher Ratings (84) 4.1 stars.

Student Ratings (31806) 4.3 stars.

Activity 6: Instructional Game. Estimated duration: 20 min

What eats What (Elem)

You will learn all about food chains and food webs, and each module will teach you a different component. After each module, you will have a chance to practice labeling the different parts of a food chain and food web. Correctly labeling the parts of a food chain and food web will yield more points. Don't worry....if you make a mistake, you can always try again!

Teacher Ratings (177) 4.3 stars.

Student Ratings (29642) 3.4 stars.

Activity 7: Instructional Game. Estimated duration: 15 min

Food Web Builder

Great practice for building food webs! Players use pop-up clues about organisms to correctly place them into food chains or food webs from a variety of ecosystems around the world!

Teacher Ratings (608) 4.3 stars.

Student Ratings (62437) 3.6 stars.

Activity 8: Instructional Game. Estimated duration: 14 min

Vee and PC-101 are aliens from planet Z, and they are wandering from planet to planet to learn about their habitats! Take a journey with Vee and PC-101 to learn about the food webs of Earth's organisms!

Teacher Ratings (97) 4.5 stars.

Student Ratings (64475) 3.9 stars.

Activity 9: Instructional Game. Estimated duration: 18 min

Food Webs Around the World

Visit various biomes around the world. Collect all the plant and animal cards to learn about their roles in their ecosystem.

Teacher Ratings (79) 4.7 stars.

Student Ratings (39939) 3.6 stars.

Activity 10: Instructional Game. Estimated duration: 17 min

DNAtion is an adventure about creating a healthy ecosystem. To do that, you must adapt to the universal rule of life: everything is connected with each other. Populate the continent with animals, and make sure they have everything they need to survive!

Teacher Ratings (130) 4.0 stars.

Student Ratings (18031) 4.3 stars.

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Year 9 Science Ecology week 1 - Food web...

Biology, science.

Year 9 Science Ecology week 1 - Food webs

25 questions

Introducing new   Paper mode

No student devices needed.   Know more

A plant is an example of a...

Heterotroph

Detritivore

A plant is an example of both a...

Producer and autotroph

Producer and heterotroph

Consumer and autotroph

Consumer and heterotroph

A lion is an example of both a...

A heterotroph is an animal that....

Consumers decaying animal and plant matter for energy

Makes its own energy from inorganic sources

Has a relationship with another organisms that benefits both organisms

Needs to consume other organisms for its energy

A autotroph is an animal that....

Makes its own energy from inorganic sources (like sunlight)

In this food chain the plant is the...

Primary consumer

Secondary consumer

Tertiary consumer

In this food chain the mouse is the...

In this food chain the snake is the...

In this food chain the hawk is the...

The producer get its energy from...

inorganic sources like sunlight and chemicals

consuming other producers

consuming the primary consumers

consuming the secondary producers

The primary consumer get its energy from...

consuming the secondary consumers

consuming the tertiary consumers

consuming the producers

consuming other primary consumers

The secondary consumer get its energy from...

The tertiary consumer get its energy from...

Which organism is the producer

Which two organisms are primary consumers

Lion and the owl

Mouse and the goat

The snake only

Goat and the green plan

Which two organisms are secondary consumers

Jackal and the owl

The wild cat and the goat

Which two organisms are tertiary consumers

Jackal and the mouse

The goat only

Kito and the lion

Which organism is in the first trophic level

The mule deer

Which organism is in the second trophic level

The moutain lion

The western whiptail (lizard)

The pacific tree frog

Which organism is in the third trophic level

The black tipped jackrabbit

Douglas' squirrel

The mountain lion

The ringtail (possum)

In which trophic level would you expect to find the most energy?

Trophic level 1

Trophic level 2

Trophic level 3

Trophic level 4

A detritivore is an animal that....

Which of the following shows the amount of energy in each trophic level?

Biomass pyramid

Energy pyramid

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• Length: 45 Minutes

Life Science

Students construct possible food webs for six different ecosystems and learn about producers, consumers, herbivores, carnivores, and decomposers. Student sheets are provided in English and in Spanish.

This activity is from The Science of Food Teacher's Guide. Although it is most appropriate for use with students in grades 3–5, the lessons are easily adaptable for other grade levels. The guide is also available in print format.

Teacher Background

Objectives and standards, materials and setup, procedure and extensions, handouts and downloads.

Environments, such as oceans, forests, lakes, and deserts, are homes to different communities of organisms. Within each distinct environment, plants, animals, and other living things must find ways to obtain water, food, and other necessary resources. Different kinds of organisms have different needs. As seen in the previous activities, plants need air, water, nutrients (usually from soil), and light. Animals need air, water, and food.

All animals depend on plants and other producers. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals that eat the plants, and so on. Some organisms even feed on waste and dead material. The general sequence of who eats whom in an ecosystem is known as a food chain. Energy is passed from one organism to another at each step in the chain. Most organisms, however, have more than one food source. Thus, a web, which depicts all of the different foods eaten by each animal, is a more accurate model of interactions within an ecosystem.

This activity lets students construct possible food webs for different ecosystems, as they learn about the roles of different kinds of living organisms.

Producers make all the molecules they need from simple substances and energy from the sun.

All other living things depend on producers for food.

Living things that must eat other organisms as food are known as consumers.

Food webs show all of the different interactions among producers and consumers in an ecosystem.

Science, Health, and Math Skills

Integrating information

Drawing conclusions

Materials per Student Group (see Setup)

set of crayons: one each of blue, green, red, and yellow

set of Ecosystem Cards representing one ecosystem

sheet of white construction or drawing paper, 9 in. x 12 in.

Make copies of the six sets of Ecosystem Cards for students in advance. Each group of students will receive one set of the cards.

Have students work in teams of 4.

Remind students of the previous activity in which they explored plants that people eat. Ask, Do people only eat one kind of food? What kinds of food do people eat? Explain to students that most other animals also have several food sources, although not all animals are omnivores (eat plants and animals).

Discuss with students the different kinds of consumers: Herbivores (primary consumers) feed on plants and other producers. Cows, camels, caterpillars, and aphids are herbivores. Carnivores (secondary consumers) feed on other animals. Most consumers are animals, but a few are plants that trap and digest insects. There can be several levels of carnivores in a food chain. Lions, owls, and lobsters are carnivores. Omnivores eat plants and animals. Pigs, dogs, humans, and cockroaches all are omnivores. Decomposers and scavengers feed off the dead remains and waste of other organisms at any step along a food chain. Scavengers, such as vultures and flies, feed on remains of animals that have been killed or that die naturally. Decomposers live off waste products and parts of dead organisms. Many kinds of bacteria and fungi (molds and mushrooms) are decomposers. The decomposers themselves are important food sources for other organisms that live in soil, such as worms and insects.

Give each group of students a different set of Ecosystem Cards. Each set consists of six cards depicting producers and consumers typically found within a given environment.

Have students in each group read the information on the cards.

Ask students to identify which organisms are the producers in their ecosystems. Next, have the members of each group identify which cards represent different kinds of consumers (herbivores, carnivores,and scavenger/decomposers).

Once students have identified the producers and different kinds of consumers in their ecosystems, have them discuss “who might eat whom” among the organisms depicted on their cards. For example, in the Freshwater Pond set of cards, the bluegill fish (carnivore) might eat dragonfly nymphs and snails. The snail (decomposer/scavenger) might eat the green algae, as well as waste or dead body parts from all of the other organisms in the system. Have students consider possible food sources for each of the organisms in their ecosystem.

Give each group a sheet of drawing paper. Instruct students to write the names of each of the organisms in their ecosystems around the edges of the sheet. Have them write the names of the producers in green, the herbivores in yellow, the carnivores in blue, and the decomposers and scavengers in red.

Next, have students draw lines to connect each consumer to all of its food sources. They will find that there are many ways to connect even as few as six organisms within an ecosystem.

Encourage students to think about the complex relationships within ecosystems by asking questions such as, What would happen if there were no producers in your ecosystem? No decomposers? Where would humans fit in your food web? Do humans also depend on many different plants and animals?

Have students (individually or in groups) draw pictures of their ecosystems, including the organisms they used to construct their food webs.

Have students conduct additional research about the ecosystems and/or organisms that they used for the food webs by consulting resources available at the library, on the internet, or from sources such as DVD/CD collections.

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Estimated Class Time for the Engagement: 20-30 minutes

EXPLORATION

This student-centered station lab is set up so students can begin to explore food webs. Four of the stations are considered input stations where students are learning new information about food webs, and four of the stations are output stations where students will be demonstrating their mastery of the input stations.  Each of the stations is differentiated to challenge students using a different learning style.  You can read more about how I set up the station labs here .

EXPLORE IT!

Students will be working in pairs to recreate the engagement activity that they went over at the beginning of the food webs lesson. Students will have 2 images that they will be looking at. The first image will require the students to list 7 organisms that live within a desert ecosystem. Students will explain how those organisms are related. The second image is the same as the first, however, includes a desert ecosystem food web. Students will explain how plants get their energy, the direction of the arrows, and what would the impact be if the hawk was removed from the web.

WATCH IT!

At this station, students will be watching a 4-minute video describing how wolves change rivers. Students will then answer questions related to the video and record their answers on their lab station sheet. For example, name 2 impacts the wolves had on the deer population at Yellowstone, how did the re-introduction impact tree populations, and how wolves impacted the flow of rivers in Yellowstone.

RESEARCH IT!

The research station will allow students to get online and participate in an interactive website about food webs. Students will read about food webs and what a trophic level means. Students interact with a food web game where they will drag and drop organisms within an Antarctic food web template. Once students have placed cards, they can check their answers and will be given opportunities to fix mistakes. With each concept, students will answer a few questions to help make the research more concrete.

READ IT!

This station will provide students with a one page reading about food webs. In the reading students will discover what the term ecology means and methods of ecological interdependence. Students will also learn from the reading that the many relationships that occur in an ecosystem that allows organisms to thrive an survive. There are 4 follow-up questions that the students will answer to show reading comprehension of the subject.

ASSESS IT!

WRITE IT!

Students who can answer open-ended questions about the lab truly understand the concepts that are being taught.  At this station, the students will be answering three questions like describing the impact of removing an organism from a food web, describe the flow of energy in a marine food web, and explain the reason why humans are dependent on a healthy ecosystem.

ILLUSTRATE IT!

Your visual students will love this station.  Students will be creating a sample food web from an ecosystem they would find at a nearby park. Students will include the Sun, at least 7 organisms and arrows depicting the flow of energy.

ORGANIZE IT!

The organize it station allows your students to place organisms on a food web template. The marine food web contains 9 cards that students will place in the correct order showing the correct flow of energy.

Estimated Class Time for the Exploration: 1-2, 45 minute class periods

EXPLANATION

The explanation activities will become much more engaging for the class once they have completed the exploration station lab.  During the explanation piece, the teacher will be clearing up any misconceptions about food webs with an interactive PowerPoint, anchor charts, and interactive notebook activities. The food webs lesson includes a PowerPoint with activities scattered throughout to keep the students engaged.

The students will also be interacting with their journals using INB templates for food webs.  Each INB activity is designed to help students compartmentalize information for a greater understanding of the concept.  The food webs INB template will diagram the flow of energy that takes place in a terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystem. Estimated Class Time for the Exploration: 2-3, 45 minute class periods

ELABORATION

The elaboration section of the 5E method of instruction is intended to give students choice on how they can prove mastery of the concept.  When students are given choice the ‘buy-in’ is much greater than when the teacher tells them the project they will have to create.  Each of the food web projects will allow students to show their understanding of the flow of energy transfer from organism to organism.

Estimated Class Time for the Elaboration: 2-3, 45 minute class periods (can also be used as an at-home project)

The final piece of the 5E model is to evaluate student comprehension.  Included in every 5E lesson is a homework assignment, assessment, and modified assessment.  Research has shown that homework needs to be meaningful and applicable to real-world activities in order to be effective.  When possible, I like to give open-ended assessments to truly gauge the student’s comprehension.

Estimated Class Time for the Elaboration: 1, 45 minute class period

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In addition to ecosystems and food chains, these printable worksheets also cover consumers and producers, as well as herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. 

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Creating Food Webs

In this activity, activity overview, template and class instructions, more storyboard that activities.

• This Activity is Part of Many Teacher Guides

Animals rarely exist in single, one-dimensional food chains. In order to demonstrate a more realistic representation of how energy passes from living thing to another, students will create a food web from different food chains in a single habitat . In a similar way to food chains, the arrows represent the flow of energy from one animal to another. The different colors are there to emphasize the different trophic levels, but are not necessary.

As an alternative to this assignment, give students the example food web and get students to identify different food chains from it. As an extension, get students to start to thinking how the population of one type of living thing affects another. For example if the number of Mussels increase, how will this affect the population of whelk?

(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)

Student Instructions

In the real world animals rarely exist in single food chains. Often animals need to eat different plants and animals to get all the nutrients they need. One way of showing more complex energy transfer relationships between living thing is using food webs. Create a food web from different food chains. Remember that all food webs start with energy from the Sun.

• Click "Start Assignment".
• Use these food chains to put together your food web. Use Photos for Class to find images and label them with their names. Make sure to use arrows to show the flow of energy from one living thing to another.
• Sun → Phytoplankton → Zooplankton → Caridean Shrimp → Cod
• Sun → Phytoplankton → Zooplankton → Caridean Shrimp → Laughing Gull
• Sun → Phytoplankton → Mussels → Laughing Gull
• Sun → Phytoplankton → Mussels → Jonah Crab → Laughing Gull
• Sun → Phytoplankton → Mussels → Whelk
• Sun → Phytoplankton → Mussels → American Lobster
• Sun → Seaweed → Limpet → Jonah Crab
• Sun → Seaweed → Limpet → Whelk → Laughing Gull

Lesson Plan Reference

Grade Level 6-8

Difficulty Level 4 (Difficult / Complex)

Type of Assignment Individual or Group

Type of Activity: Spider Maps

(You can also create your own on Quick Rubric .)

Food Chains

• Buccinum undatum (Common Whelk) • S. Rae • License Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
• Cod • Cocayhi • License Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
• fish1879 • NOAA Photo Library • License Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
• fish3260 • NOAA Photo Library • License Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
• Jonah crab • U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region • License Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
• Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) • acryptozoo • License Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
• limpet shell • S. Rae • License Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
• Lobster • Jim, the Photographer • License Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
• Mussel • Andy Gant • License Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
• prawn • Dan Hershman • License Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
• seaweed • cluczkow • License Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

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Keys & Food Webs

Learn about the different interactions in an ecosystem..

This activity has students use a dichotomous key to classify different organisms found in a Rocky Mountain Ecosystem. After identifying the different components, students build a food web to illustrate the linkages within ecosystems. 

This activity was adapted with permission from Ducks Unlimited Canada’s Wetland Ecosystems III ( www.ducks.ca/edu ). 

GRADE LEVELS

Time needed.

Curriculum LINKS

Science 14 – Investigating Matter and Energy in the Environment

Science 20 – Changes in Living Systems

Biology 20 – Ecosystems and Population Change

Biology 30 – Population and Community Dynamics

MATERIALS NEEDED

Download: Student Worksheet

Download: Teacher Solutions

Instructions

Key Words  – species, population, ecosystem, food webs, interrelationships (predator-prey, producer-consumer, symbiotic, commensalism, mutualism, parasitism, competition), biotic, abiotic, taxonomy, binomial nomenclature, human impact

• Provide student worksheets. If possible, assign pairs or groups for students to work on the assignment together (remotely).
• Choose the words you would like your students to define on the first page of the assignment.
• Example: label a species as consumer or as a primary, secondary or tertiary consumer
• Example: label the type of symbiotic relationship (Biology 30).
• Assign an impact for students’ food webs OR ask students to choose/create an impact for a fellow group. Possible impacts include:
• Extinction of a species
• Habitat loss (e.g. development)
• Climate change Recovery plan for a species at risk
• Habitat fragmentation 
• Habitat degradation: logging, pollution, etc. 
• Wildlife corridor
• New protected area
• Recovery plan for a species at risk
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions
• Park/river clean up

More Bring Nature Home for Teachers

Bring Nature Home is our online database of tried-and-tested CPAWS Southern Alberta activities! Here are some ways that you can bring nature home (or to the classroom) today! 

Midden Memory

Winter Count

Sound Stalk Game

Cpaws southern alberta.

Telephone: (403) 232-6686 Email:  [email protected]

Create Your Own Food Web Project

• Word Document File

Description

Because food webs are typically an elementary/middle school topic, I created this higher level assignment for use with my 9th grade biology class. The assignment asks students to randomly select an animal that they have never heard of before, research that animal, and then create their own food web that includes the animal. Students are then asked to label the producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, detritivores, omnivores, carnivores, and herbivores on their food web.

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Food Webs Science Games

In this series of games, your students will learn about how organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants.   Food Webs  learning objective — based on NGSS and state standards — delivers improved student engagement and academic performance in your classroom, as demonstrated by research .

Scroll down for a preview of this learning objective’s games and the concepts.

Concepts Covered

An ecosystem includes all of the living organisms and nonliving components in a shared environment. Organisms of the same species that live in the same place together are a population. A community is all of the populations that live together in the same space. A food web shows how matter and energy move in an ecosystem. An herbivore is an animal that consumes only plants. A carnivore is an animal that consumes only other animals. An omnivore is an animal that consumes both plants and animals.

All organisms obtain living and nonliving resources from their environment. Examples of living resources are plants and animals. Examples of nonliving resources are sunlight, air, water, temperature, and soil. Interdependency means that every organism depends on other organisms to survive. Different plants and animals have unique and diverse life cycles.

Animals need energy to perform their life processes. A producer is an organism that can produce its own food to obtain energy. Examples of producers are plants and phytoplankton. Plants obtain the material for growth mostly from air and water. Consumers are animals that eat other organisms to obtain energy. The energy in an animal’s food was once energy from the Sun that was captured by plants. Decomposers are organisms that break down dead plant and animal remains.

A preview of each game in the learning objective is found below.

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