Year 8 Revision: Food Chains
Activity 1
Go to the Chain Reaction website [http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/frogs/chain_reaction/index.cfm] for a definition of a food chain. Play the game and pay special attention to the examples at the end which show what happens if one part of the food chain disappears. This is the idea that we will be exploring in the year 9 unit.
Activity 2
Classroom activity: Teachers please download the cards for the Food Chain Card Game [http://www.vtaide.com/png/habitats/index.htm]. You will need to download a copy for each group (They could all do different biome) with extra copies of the producer cards to make the chains work.
Students can arrange cards to create food chains as a group activity or they can play a card game of "Go Fish" where they have to accumulate the correct cards to create as many food chains (or, later, food webs) as possible. Students may also wish to play these games at home with their families.
Go to the Chain Reaction website [http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/frogs/chain_reaction/index.cfm] for a definition of a food chain. Play the game and pay special attention to the examples at the end which show what happens if one part of the food chain disappears. This is the idea that we will be exploring in the year 9 unit.
Activity 2
Classroom activity: Teachers please download the cards for the Food Chain Card Game [http://www.vtaide.com/png/habitats/index.htm]. You will need to download a copy for each group (They could all do different biome) with extra copies of the producer cards to make the chains work.
Students can arrange cards to create food chains as a group activity or they can play a card game of "Go Fish" where they have to accumulate the correct cards to create as many food chains (or, later, food webs) as possible. Students may also wish to play these games at home with their families.
OR
Online activity: An interactive game can be found at http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/discovery/who-eats-who/flash/foodchain.swf This allows you to build several different foodwebs by clicking on each level of the food chain until the correct animal appears. You have a choice of North American arctic or forest food chains.
Year 8 Revision: Food Webs
When you put a series of food chains together, you get a food web. This is a visual summary of all the relationships between fauna and flora in an ecosystem, based on who eats whom.
Activity 3:
Complete the Australian Grasslands activity [http://www.gould.org.au/foodwebs/australia.htm] , then look at the foodweb you have created. Download the worksheet below to identify the following relationships between organisms (click here for definitions):
Activity 3:
Complete the Australian Grasslands activity [http://www.gould.org.au/foodwebs/australia.htm] , then look at the foodweb you have created. Download the worksheet below to identify the following relationships between organisms (click here for definitions):
- Producers
- Herbivores
- Carnivores
- Omnivores
- Predators
- Prey
- First Order Consumers
- Second order consumers
- Third Order consumers
- Decomposers
| food_webs_revision.doc |
Activity 4:
Complete the other food webs on the Gould League website [http://www.gould.edu.au/foodwebs/kids_web.htm] on your worksheet. This includes African grasslands, Antarctica and a marine food web. It is an excellent homework task to revise what you learned in class.
Activity 5:
View the food web at Coolschool[http://www.coolschool.ca/TC2/TC2_projects/TC2_02_files/theweb.html]. Make sure you know the names of each plant or animal in the food web. This diagram will show you how changing one part of a food web has an impact on the rest of the web.
Use this table to illustrate what happens when you remove each animal.
Complete the other food webs on the Gould League website [http://www.gould.edu.au/foodwebs/kids_web.htm] on your worksheet. This includes African grasslands, Antarctica and a marine food web. It is an excellent homework task to revise what you learned in class.
Activity 5:
View the food web at Coolschool[http://www.coolschool.ca/TC2/TC2_projects/TC2_02_files/theweb.html]. Make sure you know the names of each plant or animal in the food web. This diagram will show you how changing one part of a food web has an impact on the rest of the web.
Use this table to illustrate what happens when you remove each animal.
| food_webs.rtf |
Activity 6:
A food pyramid represents two things: the number of organisms in an ecosystem and the amount of energy used by these organisms as they eat one another. Mary Poffenroth's video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUZkWZ12A8s&feature=relmfu] or the Harcourt presentation [http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/science_up_close/314/deploy/interface.html] explain how this works.
A food pyramid represents two things: the number of organisms in an ecosystem and the amount of energy used by these organisms as they eat one another. Mary Poffenroth's video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUZkWZ12A8s&feature=relmfu] or the Harcourt presentation [http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/science_up_close/314/deploy/interface.html] explain how this works.
Extension work
Activity 7:
National Geographic describes what happens when a top level predator is reintroduced into the food chain. Read the article [http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/03/wolf-wars/chadwick-text] (reviewed on [http://www.christopherxjjensen.com/2010/09/28/national-geographic-wolf-wars/]) and view the before and after images [http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/03/wolf-wars/wolf-illustration].
Create a table showing the changes that occured in Yellowstone National Park's ecosystem as a result of the reintroduction of wolves or complete the worksheets at [http://science-class.net/Lessons/Ecology/non_native_species.pdf].
Activity 8:
Read these articles about the conflict between humans and wolves and debate whether or not wolves should have been reintroduced into Yellowstone national park. Pay special attention to the purpose of each article and the language the articles use to persuade you their position is valid.
National Geographic describes what happens when a top level predator is reintroduced into the food chain. Read the article [http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/03/wolf-wars/chadwick-text] (reviewed on [http://www.christopherxjjensen.com/2010/09/28/national-geographic-wolf-wars/]) and view the before and after images [http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/03/wolf-wars/wolf-illustration].
Create a table showing the changes that occured in Yellowstone National Park's ecosystem as a result of the reintroduction of wolves or complete the worksheets at [http://science-class.net/Lessons/Ecology/non_native_species.pdf].
Activity 8:
Read these articles about the conflict between humans and wolves and debate whether or not wolves should have been reintroduced into Yellowstone national park. Pay special attention to the purpose of each article and the language the articles use to persuade you their position is valid.
- Journal of Young Investigators [http://www.jyi.org/features/ft.php?id=441]
- Western Institute for Study of the Environment [http://westinstenv.org/wildpeop/2011/04/03/idaho-wolf-disaster-bill-to-be-considered/]
- Idaho Observer [http://proliberty.com/observer/20090623.htm]
- Hunter's lodge, Aberdeen [http://hunterslodgeaberdeen.com/?p=405]