The Food Cycle & Food Chains Posters - Set of 2 | Science Posters | Gloss Paper measuring 850mm x 594mm (A1) | Science Charts for the Classroom | Education Charts by Daydream Education

Product Information

Different ecosystems will have different food chains. Let’s look at some examples of the food chain: Food Chain in a forest Food Chain diagram | Image credit: Ecology of ecosystems: Figure 3 by OpenStax College, Biology, CC BY 4.0 Algae or water plants can be the producers in a pond ecosystem. Small insects or fish eat these plants and algae. Large fish eat these small insects or fish. Then, birds or animals that eat fish will eat big fish, creating a chain. Some of the most unusual food chains in the world are those of the Brazilian maned wolf, which eats mostly plants and fruit, and the Blue Whale, which is the biggest animal in the world but only eats krill, a tiny sea creature that looks like a small shrimp.

The food chain is a straight succession of creatures in which nutrients and energy are passed from one to the next. The 10 percent energy rule states that of the energy available at one trophic level, only about 10 percent of the energy is transferred to the next trophic level. Because of this 10% energy rule, the food chain can be sustained only up to 4-5 trophic level. Difference between the Food web and Food chain Secondary consumers - Organisms or animals that feed on primary consumers. These include Iguanas and frogs. Set up a food web on your classroom floor using painter's tape and printed pictures, then allow students to walk the web to see how organisms interconnect.

Find a Scheme of Work

Now we can look at how energy and nutrients move through a community of living things. Let’s start by looking at a food chain to see a few examples of who eats who.

Depending on the environment in which they live, food chains can be long or short. But if a food chain is too long, the energy that gets passed along will be less useful to the animal at the end of the chain because some energy is lost at each step.

Food chain for kids:

During energy transfer in the food chain, about 90% of the energy that could be used is lost. Only 10% of the energy that is available is passed on to the next level. The rest of the energy leaves the food chain in one of several ways: By definition, a food chain is an outline of who eats what (or whom!). It follows how energy and nutrients move down one single path within an ecosystem and describes the relationships of the various organisms along the chain. Organisms are broken down into three basic levels along the food chain: