DO NOW TUESDAY

• What is carrying capacity?

DO NOW WEDNESDAY

• What is the relationship between limiting factors and carrying capacity?

SC Indicator 7-4.2

Illustrate energy flow in food chains, food webs, and energy

pyramids.

Prior Knowledge• In 3rd grade you learned about simple

food chains, including the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers.

• In 5th grade you identified the roles of organisms as they interacted and depended on one another through food chains and food webs in an ecosystem.

• You learned a lot in 5th grade. Let’s review what you learned.

In 5th Grade…• You learned about producers and

consumers like herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores.

• You learned about decomposers like microorganisms, termites, worms, and fungi.

• You learned about the roles of predators and prey.

• You also learned about parasites and their hosts.

• Wow! You really learned a lot in 5th grade.

Future Learning• In high school biology you will learn

how to calculate the amount of energy transferred from one level to another in an energy pyramid.

• You will also learn the roles that organisms play in the geochemical cycles (such as the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, and water cycle).

• You will learn more about predation, competition, and symbiotic relationships as well.

Essential Question

What does a food chain show us?

Essential Question

How is a food web different from a food

chain?

Essential Question

How does energy flow through an ecosystem?

Essential Question

How does the amount of energy change as it moves

through an energy pyramid?

Food Chains• Food chains uses arrows to show

the flow of energy in an ecosystem.

• The arrows always point to the organism that is doing the eating

Trophic Level• The trophic level of an organism

indicates the position that the organism occupies in the food chain.

• It shows what it eats and what eats it.

Anything that can make its own food to survive

is called a producer.

Anything that cannot make its own food must EAT to

survive.

It is a consumer.

Trophic Levels in a Food Chain

• Tertiary consumers: eat the primary consumers (carnivores or omnivores)

• Secondary consumers: eat the primary

consumers (carnivores-eat animals- or omnivores- eat animals and plants)

• Primary Consumers: are herbivores (eat

the producers)

• Producers: make their own food

LEVEL 1: Producers

LEVEL 2: Primary Consumers

LEVEL 3: SecondaryConsumers

LEVEL 4: Tertiary Consumers

The owl eats the snake

that ate the frog that ate

the caterpillar

that ate the flower.

Follow the food chain from producer to top level

consumer.

Note: There’s something

wrong.What is it?

Trophic Levels

Food Webs• Food webs describe the

organisms found in interconnecting food chains using pictures or words and arrows.

• In other words, food webs are a bunch of food chains all together!

Food Webs are EASY!

Energy Pyramids• An energy pyramid shows the

amount of energy that moves from one trophic level to another in a food chain.

• The most energy is available at the producer level of the pyramid.

• The availability of energy decreases as it moves up the energy pyramid.

The most energy is at the producer level – the base of the pyramid.

Another Cool Sitehttp://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/food/food_menu.html

After we look at the above web site, we’ll go on to view the youTube video about FOOD WEBS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGODmyXkkPU

In this food chain, what is the producer?

What is the first level (primary) consumer?

What is the second level (secondary) consumer?

Which organism in this diagram needs to eat the most to get the energy to

survive? Explain.

EXIT SLIP THURSDAY

1 2

34

DO NOW FRIDAYName the organism at each trophic level of this food chain.

Pond Food Web Activity

• Now you will work in pairs to complete the Pond Food Web Activity.

• Each pair/table will need a set of cards and a handout for each person.

Use the cards in the bag to complete the four food chains on your handout.

Write the name of the organism from the card that you choose in the boxes on your handout.You may use some of the organisms in more than one of your food chains.

There are a lot of arrows

here, but they’re easy to follow.

Try it.

EXIT SLIP Pick one organism in this food web and give its trophic level (s). Explain.

Who needs to eat the

most organisms to survive?

Why?

EXIT SLIP FRIDAY

EnergyPyramid

Making a Model Let’s make a model of an energy pyramid.

The model you will construct will be simple. It will show pictures of the producers and consumers at each level, the names in words, and the trophic levels.

The good news is that this model really is perfect for meeting our objectives relating to energy pyramids.

Make sure you follow all instructions for proper completion of the model.

Acknowledgements• All pictures were obtained from various

sources on Google Images.• None of the pictures/illustrations are

mine.• Credit is given to all

artists/photographers for their work.