Who eats who? Food webs, biodiversity

3 ResourcesWorksheets: Marine Food Web, Who

eats who? 1 or 2, Cool Seas Poster,

Find Out More, interactive game.

2 Set the SceneShow students ‘Cool Seas poster’. Identify some of the marine life. With a partner, students to discuss who they think eats who. Pairs to share their ideas with the class.

6 ExtendChoose one of the creatures from

the food web to research. Websites

such as the natural history museum

(http://www.nhm.ac.uk) and national

geographic kids (http://kids.

nationalgeographic.com)

are good starting points.

Students should be encouraged to use

information texts as well to complete

the Find Out More research scaffold.S

4 InvestigateAsk students to think about the types of food we eat. Discuss being a vegetarian. Compare eating meat - carnivores with vegetarians (herbivores) and those who eat both (omnivores) Brainstorm common examples of each (e.g. cat, rabbit, pig) Explain the same is true in the sea. Show examples of each (shark - carnivore, sea urchin - herbivore , green turtle - omnivore) Discuss how this means life is interconnected. Introduce the terms producer, consumer and predator. Use the Build a Food Web interactive (in Food Webs section) on IWB as model for the following activity.

5 ApplyYounger or less able students should complete the Build a Food Web interactive independently. Older students use ‘Who Eats Who? 1 or 2’ to build their own food web. This activity could be completed using an online mindmapping program, such as bubbl.us.

7 ReflectAsk for volunteers to explain the

food web, identifying producers, consumers and predators. Consider: What happens if one creature becomes extinct or reduces in numbers? Relate this to the need to fish sustainably and keep our oceans clean.

Subject/Topic:

A project made possible by

1 BackgroundAll plants and animals need energy

from their food to live. Plants

(producers) produce their own

energy from the sun. Animals get

their energy by eating other organisms.

They are consumers. A food web is a

connection of food chains. A food chain

always starts with the sun, as the source of energy

for the producers. Consumers eat the producers

and at the top are predators who have few natural

threats. Food webs show all the interconnections

between species in a particular habitat. The ability of

an ecosystem to recover from threats, its reslience,

is vital and must be supported and conserved.

Suitable for: Older years

Use the food web template and the inform

ation on this sheet to m

ake your own food web.

Plankton: These are tiny animals

and plants that float in the water

(you really need a microscope to

see them)

Sea urchins:

Eat seaweed and worms

Edible crabs:

Eat shellfish, worms

and small fish

Dolphins:

Eat fish

Cat worm

s: Eat seaweed and worm

s

Basking Sharks: Eat plankton

Small fish:

(Such as sand eels) eat seaweed and worm

s

Mussels: Eat plankton

Who Eats Who? (for second stage activity 3)

Photographs L to R © J Stafford-D

eitsch, Andy C

olls, Daw

n Tim, H

ans Hillew

art (Wikim

edia Com

mons) Ryan Tow

ley/MC

S, Peter Richardson/M

CS, Judith Scott

Use the food web template and the

information on this sheet to m

ake your own food web.

Who Eats Who? 2

Plankton: These are tiny animals and plants that float

in the water (you really need a microscope to see them

)

Sea urchins: Eat seaweed and worms

Basking Sharks: Eat plankton

Edible crabs: Eat shellfish, worms and sm

all fish

Dolphins: Eat fish

Small fish: (Such as sand eels) eat seaweed and worm

s

Mussels: Eat plankton

Cat worm

s: Eat seaweed and worms

Name:

Basking Shark

People

Plankton and Seaweed PRODUCERS

CONSUMERS

Marine Food Web (for second stage activity 3)

Find Out More Name:

Diet

Adaptation

Predators

Marine Animal

OtherBehaviour

Lifecycle

Choose one of the creatures from the food web to research and add notes to the research grid below.

HabitatAppearance