Ecology Bingo

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Ecology Bingo

• Draw a 2 x 3 grid and fill it with 6 key words
  that you think might come up in todays lesson...

Ecosystem Carnivore
Consumer Producer
Food chain Energy flow
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Food chains and food webs
WAL
About how energy moves through food chains and
webs.

• How is energy lost from the ecosystem?

• What is meant by the terms trophic level, food
  chain, food web, producer, consumer and
  decomposer?

• How does energy enter an ecosystem and become
  transferred between organisms?

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Today we are covering from the specification
Pages 64-65 of your textbook
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How does energy enter an ecosystem and become
transferred between organisms?

• The ultimate source of energy for organisms found
  in an ecosystem is sunlight.
• This is converted to chemical energy by
  photosynthesising organisms and passed as food
  between other organisms.

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• Radiation from the Sun (solar or light energy)
• is the main source of energy for all living
  things. The Suns light energy is captured and
  used by green plants and algae during
  photosynthesis, to make new biomass.
• 6CO2 6H20 energy light C6H12O6 6O2

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A few key words
Producer The plant in the food chain - they make food by photosynthesis.
Primary consumer Animals that eat the producer. E.g?
Secondary consumer Usually eat animal material - they are carnivores e.g?
Tertiary consumer Eats secondary consumers e.g?
Quarternary consumer Eats Tertiary consumers e.g?
Omnivore Eats both plants and meat.
Trophic Level Position occupied by a group of organisms in a food chain.
Food chain Describes a feeding relationship between organisms
Food web Many food chains linked together
Carnivore An animal that eats other animals and may therefore be a 2 or 3 consumer
Trophic level Each stage in a food chain
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What is a food chain?

• Organisms need energy to live
• They get this energy by eating other organisms
• E.g. A rabbit gets energy from the carrots it
  eats
• A food chain shows how energy is passed through a
  series of animals
• E.g. Carrot ? Rabbit ? Fox

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Consumers are organisms that obtain their energy
by feeding on other organisms rather than using
the energy of sunlight directly.
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• Stoat
• Toad
• Caterpillar
• Grass

• Tertiary Consumer
• Gains energy by eating secondary consumers.
• Usually predators but may be scavengers or
  parasites

• Secondary Consumer
• Gains energy by eating primary consumers.
• Usually carnivores but can be
• omnivores

• Primary Consumer
• Gains energy by eating producers.
• Usually herbivores

• Producer
• Makes food from sun using photosynthesis

Trophic level
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Food chains

• Food chains are diagrams that show which animals
  eat each other
• In habitats all animals and plants depend on each
  other
• If one animal dies out it might affect the other
  animals

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• Human
• Cow
• Grass

What would happen to the cows if all the grass
died out?
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What are detrivores?
Things that feed on detritus (dead or decaying
material) giving it a bigger surface area for
microorganisms to work on
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Name some examples of detrivores
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Microorganisms (Saprophytes) are things that feed
by releasing enzymes outside of their body,
digesting the food externally and then absorbing
the digested food. Decay is caused by
saprophytes Bacteria fungi are saprophytes.
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Constructing an ecosystem

• Within any ecosystem there are two main processes
  to consider
• The flow of energy through the ecosystem.
• The cycling of elements through the ecosystem.
• We are going to construct an ecosystem based on
  these two main principles.

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Caterpillar Eats lettuce.
Hedgehog Eats slugs and caterpillars.
Lettuce Makes its own food using energy from the
sun.
Frog Eats grasshoppers.
Grass Makes its own food using energy from the
sun.
Spider Eats aphids.
Rabbit Eats lettuce and grass.
Sparrowhawk Eats voles and thrushes.
Aphid Eats grass.
Thrush Eats slugs and spiders.
Vole Eats grasshoppers.
Slug Eats lettuce.
Grasshopper Eats grass.
Grass snake Eats frogs.
Fox Eats hedgehogs, voles and rabbits.
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Constructing an ecosystem

• As well as the cards provided, you will also have
  to draw/add your own elements to the ecosystem as
  some are missing.

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Constructing an ecosystem

• Cut out all of the cards and try to arrange them
  in a logical ecosystem.
• Once your happy, glue them down.
• Draw arrows between organisms to show the flow of
  energy (and therefore feeding relationships)
  within the ecosystem.
• Around the outside, list any abiotic factors
  which could affect the individuals in the
  ecosystem.

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An example ecosystem
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Food chains and food webs
WAL
About how energy moves through food chains and
webs.

• How is energy lost from the ecosystem?

• What is meant by the terms trophic level, food
  chain, food web, producer, consumer and
  decomposer?

• How does energy enter an ecosystem and become
  transferred between organisms?

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5,4,3,2,1 go can you talk about food chains and
food webs for 60 seconds mentioning as many as
the key words as possible?
Food web
Producer
Consumer
Decomposer
Food chain
Primary consumer
Omnivore
Detritivore
Energy loss
Quarternary
Secondary consumer
Trophic level
Tertiary consumer
Habitat
Heat
Respiration
Carnivore
Herbivore