Fishing For Food Webs

Questions to think about

How connected do you think you are with the different organisms that live in your neighborhood?
Where do you think you are located on the food chain?

What's a Food Chain?

A Food Chain is the order in which organisms rely on each other for food. I was able to experience this connection between the different size fish I caught using the worm I found.

My Fishing Trip Food Chain

From my fishing trip, I was able to create a food chain that was able to trace my biggest catch all away down to the worm I used when I started fishing.

This food chain creates a connection between each of these organisms and follows from left to right (starting from the earthworm and ending with the giant fish I caught).

Levels of a Food Chain

Food Chains are made up of many different levels. These levels start from organisms that produce their own food all the way to organisms that feed off of dead organisms. Follow the pictures from left to right to learn more about each level.

Producer

Organisms that produce their own food. These include plants and trees.

Primary Consumer

Organisms that consume producers. They are usually herbivores (though sometimes omnivores).

Secondary Consumer

Organisms that consume primary consumers and sometimes producers.

Tertiary Consumer

Organisms that consume primary and secondary consumers.

Decomposer

An organism that consumes and breaks down dead organisms. They are considered to be the last level of the food chain.

From Food Chain to Food Web

Looking at these interactions from a larger perspective, there are many different food chains that exist in an environment and merge together to form what are known as Food Webs.

Here is a food web model provided by Encyclopedia Britannica that shows the food web of an ocean environment.

One of the reasons food chains merge and connect with other food chains is simply because organisms eat more than just one type of organism. For example, the Tuna Fish in this food web above eats both the mackerel and the smaller fish.

Who's What ?

Believe it or not, all of these organisms are connected someway through a food chain. Now it's time to practice identifying what level each organism is on this food chain. Guess which animal is the Decomposer, Producer, Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Consumer in the pictures below. Click the arrow for the correct answer.

Duckweed : Aquatic flowering plant

Producer:

Duckweed uses photosyntehsis to produce its own food

Morel: A common mushroom

Decomposer:

Morels break down dead matter and organisms as a source for food.

Coyote

Tertiary Consumer:

Coyotes are large enough to hunt raccoons and aquatic organisms like crayfish.

Raccoon

Secondary Consumer:

Raccoons are known to scavenge along rivers and streams to pick off crayfish and other aquatic species they can find under rocks and debris.

Crayfish

Primary Consumer:

The diet of crayfish are dominantly aquatic plants although sometimes they will eat smaller crayfish!

Your Own Neighborhood Food Web: Part 1

Now it's time to make your own Food Web from the organisms that you find in your neighborhood. To make a neighborhood food web, there are a couple of things you need to do:

GO OUTSIDE! Enjoy the beautiful spring weather and use your observation skills to search for different organisms. Look to find a producer, a primary consumer , a secondary consumer, a tertiary consumer, and a decomposer.

2. Challenge yourself to find these organisms in different areas within your neighborhood whether thats in your backyard, block, local park or green space.

3. Make a list of at least 5 of the organisms you discovered in your nature journal.

This upcoming Thursday, join Naturalist Kayla as she teaches us how to take our list of organisms we found and create our very own neighborhood food web!

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