Food Chain

A food chain is the flow of energy from one organism to the next. A food chain usually starts with a producer and ends with a carnivore.


Food Web

 A food web is food chains that are connected to eachother. Its shows how plants and animals are connected in many ways to help them survive.


This is an example of a food chain:

                                                   
                                                                                                             *great horned owls might attack each other


A food chain always starts with a plant (producer). The mouse is a herbivore which eats the producer. The great horned owl is a carnivore which eats the herbivore.

This is an example of a food web:


                                                                               * a coyote would only eat a great horned owl if it was on the ground or injured

A food web also starts with a producer. The herbivores will eat the producer. On this food web, the herbivores are the rabbit, mouse, and the cricket. The carnivores will eat the herbivores. The carnivores on the food web are the coyote and the great horned owl.



Energy Pyramid

An energy pyramid shows that energy decreases at each successive feeding step. It always starts with primary producers which are the plants. The plants make their own food from photosynthesis. The second trophic level are the primary consumers who get energy from the plants. They are the herbivores. The third trophic level are the secondary consumers which eat the primary consumers. At the very top of the pyramid is the tertiary consumers. The tertiary consumers will eat the secondary comsumres. In order for the tertiary consumer to surivive there needs to be many primary producers.