Energy Transfers in Food Chains Saturday 27 April 2024

Learning Objective:

In order to be successful in this lesson you must be able to:

State that energy is lost as it passes along a food chain.

Success
…
 Energy Transfers in Food Chains

State that energy Describe how Explain how energy

is lost as it passes energy is lost as loss restricts the
along a food it passes along a food chain to a
chain. food chain. maximum of five
trophic levels.

PROGRESS
 Key words: Food Chains
Watch the video on the link below and then have a go at the
activity on the next slide:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AZCcf4Fv14&list=RDCMUC
4KN50fal7f45fx2DqG7ttg&start_radio=1&t=49
Pick an animal that can be described by the
key words below from the food chains.

For example: "a rat is a primary consumer"

Primary consumer herbivore

producer carnivore

Secondary
consumer
consumer

Tertiary consumer predator

 Examples of answers you could have given
Primary consumer- rat, rabbit, grass hopper
Herbivore- rat, rabbit, grass hopper
Producer- corn, carrot, grass
Carnivore- owl, fox, lion, frog, python, eagle
Secondary consumer- owl, fox, frog
Consumer- rat, rabbit, grass hopper, owl, fox, lion, frog, python,
eagle
Tertiary consumer- lion, python
Predator- owl, fox, lion, frog, python, eagle
 Energy losses at each stage of a food chain
Read through the worksheet (link
on Show My Homework) and
answer the questions on how
energy is lost at each stage of a
food chain.
 Energy losses at each stage of a food chain

Answers:
1. a billionth of the energy that leaves the sun reaches the Earth
2. plants need sunlight to photosynthesise to produce glucose (food)
3. most of the suns energy that is not stored by the plant is reflected back into space
4. the energy from the plant is used by the consumer to keep warm, move and grow
5. 10% of the energy from the plant is used for growth by the primary consumer
6. As energy is passed along a food chain, much of it is lost as organisms carry out the processes
required to keep them alive, so a food chain cannot be longer than 4 or 5 organisms.
7. food chains with animals in are longer and so more energy is wasted in the whole food chain. Food
chains that consist of a plant and the consumer are only 2 organisms long so much less energy is wasted.
Food Webs are interconnecting food chains
Think:
How many carnivores are there in
this food web?
How many herbivores are there in
this food web?
What do all the food chains begin
with?
Why are there no more than four
trophic levels in the food web?
Secondary
Primary omnivore producer
consumer
consumer
Food Webs are interconnecting food chains
Answers:
4 carnivores are in this food web
4 herbivores are in this food web
food chains begin with the Sun
There is not enough energy for
more than four trophic levels in the
food web.

Secondary
Primary omnivore producer
consumer
consumer
Food Webs- the effect of one population on
another
Think:
• What would happen to the
numbers of lobsters if the limpet
population decreased?
• What would happen to the
population of common seals?
Food Webs- the effect of one population on
another
Answer:
• number of lobsters would
decrease if the limpet population
decreased.
• population of common seals
could decrease in number
because the number of lobsters
is decreasing, however, numbers
could stay the same if the seals
have enough grey mullet to eat.