Animal Unit: Food Chain

1. Animal Unit:Food Chain By: Mrs. Jacqueline McKelvey

2. Food Chain Facts: • A Food Chain is a diagram or picture that shows how each animal gets its food. • Each link in a food chain is food for the next animal. • A food chain always begins with some type of plant life and ends with an animal.

3. What makes up the food Chain? • Producers = Organisms that make their own food from primary energy sources • These are usually plants. • Consumers = Organisms that cannot make their own food – So they must eat other plants and animals. • Decomposer = These organisms break down dead and decaying matter. • Examples of decomposers: • Bacteria • Fungi

4. Trophic Levels of a Food Chain: • Trophic Levels are the position an animal holds in the food chain. • Primary Producers = organisms that make their own food from sunlight and/or chemical energy from deep sea vents • These organisms are the base of every food chain • They are also called autotrophs. • Primary Consumers = animals that eat primary producers • They are also called herbivores (plant-eaters). • Secondary Consumers = these animals eat primary consumers. • They are carnivores (meat-eaters) and omnivores (animals that eat both animals and plants).

5. Trophic Levels of a Food Chain Continued: • Trophic Levels (Continued) • Tertiary Consumers = these animals eat secondary consumers. • Quaternary Consumers = these animals eat tertiary consumers. • Food chains “end” with top predators. These are animals who have few or no natural enemies.

6. Sample Food Chain:

7. What is a Predator? • Predators are animals who prey, or hunt, other animals