Food Web

A food web is a graphical description of feeding relationships among species in an ecological community, that is, of who eats whom (Fig. 1). It is also a means of showing how energy and materials (e.g., carbon) flow through a community of species as a result of these feeding relationships. Typically, species are connected by lines or arrows called "links", and the species are sometimes referred to as "nodes" in food web diagrams.

You may try to build up a food web by enter this link :
http://www.gould.edu.au/foodwebs/kids_web.htm

Food Chain

1.  The food chain is the transfer of energy from one species to another.

2.  All living things needs energy for living beings to grow.

3.  Within a food chain, some living things create the energy (producers) and some use the energy (consumers).

4.Plants are producers of energy, as they make their own food (using sunlight, soil, and other elements).

5.  Animals are consumers, because they have to eat other animals and plants

6.  There are four different types of consumers in the animal kingdom. A carnivore is an animal that only eats other animals. An herbivore is an animal that only eats plants. An omnivore is an animal that eats both plants and animals. A scavenger is an animal that eats dead animals.

7.  The food chain can begin with a plant. The plant is then eaten by an insect. The insect is eaten by a bird. The bird is eaten by a large mammal. The mammal dies after being hit by a car. It decomposes and is broken down and used as food by bacteria and fungi.

8.  There are more than 100,000 different types of decomposer organisms. These simpler nutrients are returned to the soil and can be used again by the plants. Then the energy chain begins all over again.

9.  If one level is removed from the food chain, it can have disastrous results.

10.  Humans are at the end of the food chain. They eat both plants and animals that have consumed other forms of energy.

flower----> caterpillar----> frog----> snake

grass-----> deer------> wolf 

You may try to create your own food web by clicking the link :  http://www.vtaide.com/png/foodwebS.htm

Classification of Animals

a) Herbivores
- Herbivores are animals which only eat plant material. This means leaves, flowers, fruits or even wood. Sheep, horses, rabbits and snails are well known examples of herbivores which eat grass and leaves. A parrot, however, which eats fruits and nuts can also be called a herbivore.

goat

zebra

b) Carnivores

-Carnivores generally eat herbivores, but can eat omnivores, and occasionally other carnivores. Animals that eat other animals, like carnivores and omnivores are important to any ecosystem, because they keep other species from getting overpopulated.

snake

eagle

bird

frog

c) Omnivores

-An omnivore is a kind of animal that eats either other animals or plants. Some omnivores will hunt and eat their food, like carnivores, eating herbivores and other omnivores. Some others are scavengers and will eat dead matter. Many will eat eggs from other animals.

Omnivores eat plants, but not all kinds of plants. Unlike herbivores, omnivores can't digest some of the substances in grains or other plants that do not produce fruit. They can eat fruits and vegetables, though. Some of the insect omnivores in this simulation are pollinators, which are very important to the life cycle of some kinds of plants.

chicken

human

Objectives of this chapter

~ to classify animal according to the food they eat.


~to construct food chain and food web of different habitats.


~to identify producers and consumers in the food chain and food web.


~the importance of organism in a food web.