Activity: School ground food web

Teacher preparation

Overarching learning goal: By participating in this activity students will understand that food webs are representations of the energy flow within an ecosystem. They will recognise  that a food web diagram helps explain the relationships between groups of different organisms, and that food web diagrams can help explain the consequences when elements within a food web change.

Teacher content information: Food webs are usually in the form of a diagram. These arrows indicate how energy moves through an ecosystem. The arrow head always points to where the energy is moving too.

Most ecosystems have hundreds if not thousands of species and it is not possible to draw in all the links as we don’t know enough about each animal.

In this activity a group of plants and animals have been chosen that provide students with a sensible way of constructing a food web. In this food web, 15 organisms have been chosen rather than a couple of hundred that would truly represent a scho

Part 1: Building food chains

Construct food chains for each list of organisms below. Use arrows to indicate the flow of energy.

List 1: Grass hopper, Tussock grass, Crow

List 2: Honeyeater (bird), Little falcon, Flowering eucalypt

List 3: Little falcon, Flowering bottle brush, Honeyeater, Sugar ant

Part 2: Building a school ground food web

A food web shows the flow of energy between organisms in an ecosystem. It highlights how everything is connected and if one organism were to become extinct it may greatly effect other organisms. Take a look at the example of the Antarctica food web. What would happen to the other organisms in the ecosystem if the whale became extinct?

Use this list of organisms to build a food web. Remember that the arrow always points to where the energy flows. A good tip, is to start with the plants and organise them at the bottom of your page.