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Food Chains

and Food Webs

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What is a food chain?

A food chain is a sequence of organisms,

each of which uses the next, lower member ofthe sequence as a food source1

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Important facts about food chains

In a food chain each organism obtains energyfrom the one at the level below.

Plants are called producers because theycreate their own food throughphotosynthesis3

Animals are consumers because they cannotcreate their own food, they must eat plants orother animals to get the energy that theyneed.

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Primary Producers

Primary producers are organisms capable of

producing their own food4

We can also say that they are photosynthetic, use

light energy.

Examples of primary producers include algae,

phytoplankton, and large plants.

Primary producers are eaten by primary consumers

(herbivores)

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Primary Producers of NJ Marshes

http://www.nicerweb.com/doc/class/pix/PRAIRIE/2005_07_18/Typha_angustifolia.jpg

Cattails

MarshMallow

http://www.ncdot.org/doh/Operations/dp_chief_eng/roadside/wildflowerbook/graphics/images/page14a.jpg

https://reader010.{domain}/reader010/html5/0621/5b2bcfcc62885/5b2bcfd0c2704.jpg

B

lueFlagIris

http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=THEPALvPUB

M

arshFern

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Four types of consumer

Herbivores: animals that eat only plants3

Carnivores: animals that eat only other

animals3.

Omnivores: animals that eat animals and

plants3.

Detritivores: Animals that eat dead materials

and organic wastes

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Other Ways to Classify Consumers

1. Primary Consumers: Herbivores3.

2. Secondary Consumers: Carnivores that eatherbivores3.

3. Tertiary Consumers: Carnivores that eatother carnivores3.

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Primary Consumers in Marshes

Muskrat (eats mostly Cattails)

https://reader010.{domain}/reader010/html5/0621/5b2bcfcc62885/5b2bcfd62071e.jpg

https://reader010.{domain}/reader010/html5/0621/5b2bcfcc62885/5b2bcfd796

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Primary Consumers in Marshes

Wood Duck eats seeds like those of the

Swamp Marsh Mallow and Blue Flag Iris

http://dsf.chesco.org/ccparks/lib/ccparks/wood_duck_pair.jpg

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Primary Consumers in Marshes

Glassy-winged Toothpick Grasshoppereats

leaves of plants like cattail and pickerelweed

http://bugguide.net/node/view/41662

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Secondary Consumers

Black Rat Snake eats eggs of animals like wood

duck

http://www.bio.davidson.edu/projects/tate/Terms.htm

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Secondary Consumers

Swamp Sparrow eats seeds but also insects

like the toothpick grasshopper

http://www.jeaniron.ca/2007/SwampSparrow6645.jpg

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Tertiary Consumers

Eat other animals in marsh including snake

and sparrow

www.audubon.orgwww.montereybay.com

Osprey

http://www.audubon.org/http://www.montereybay.com/http://www.montereybay.com/http://www.audubon.org/

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Omnivore

Racoon eats seeds, fruits, insects, worms, fish,

and frogs and pretty much anything elsethey can get their paws on!

http://abouttitusville.com/BobPaty/Animals/images/Racoon.jpg

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Detritivore

Worms are common detritivores in many

ecosystems including marshes

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What is a food web?

A food web is an interlocking pattern of foodchains2