FLOW OF ENERGY

SOURCE OF ENERGY

Raise your hand if you included this on your schoolyard diagram.

The Sun provides the light and heat energy for most forms of life on Earth.

Sun = Sol

PRODUCERS

Producers chemically change solar (light ) energy in the chlorophyll (the green color in the plant) into their food.

Plants are producers.

FOOD

Plants make this food for their own use. They need the energy to survive and thrive.

Plants store the food in many places: roots, stems, leaves, and fruits.

Plants make food during the process

called photosynthesis.

PHOTOSYNTHESIS

To undergo photosynthesis, plants need: Sunlight

Water

Carbon dioxide

Carbon Dioxide

PLANTS USE THEIR FOOD

Plants use food to grow.

Plants use stored energy (food) when the resources they need to grow and thrive are unavailable.

Plants use food to survive harsh environmental conditions, such as drought or cold winters.

CONSUMERS

Consumers are organisms that get their energy by eating either producers (plants) or other consumers (animals).

They use this energy to survive, grow, and reproduce .

FLOW OF ENERGY

Let’s look at some of the diagrams you completed in your science notebook on the first day of this lesson.

What do they have in common?

FOOD CHAINS When energy is transferred through

organisms it is called a food chain. Arrows are used to show the direction

the energy is flowing. In the schoolyard, you might see:

Remember, nearly every food chain starts with energy from the Sun.

EXAMPLE

Use the strips of paper to create a food chain for organisms that live in one of the Earth’s ecosystems. It might be the Arctic or the ocean, forest or desert, grassland or jungle.

Cut six strips of paper of different sizes, as shown here.

Color the widest strip yellow. This will represent the Sun.

EXAMPLE

Write the name of a plant on the second widest strip of paper.

On the third widest paper, write the name of an organism that eats the plant.

On the fourth widest, write the name of an animal that eats the organism on the second strip.

On the fifth and sixth strips, continue the sequence.

If you are unable to think of any organisms, name another plant, or a second animal, that may eat one of the organisms listed.

Carnivore

Carnivore

Plant

Carnivore

Herbivore

FOOD CHAIN

Link your food chain together beginning with the Sun. Add the producer and then the consumers (herbivores and carnivores). Use tape to secure the link.

Sun Producer Consumer:Herbivore

Consumer:Carnivore

Consumer:Carnivore

COMPARING FOOD CHAINS

Work in groups of four to compare the food chains that were created.

What do the food chains have in common with each other?

Could any food chains overlap with each other?

Flounder

Porpoise

Plankton

Small Mullet

Shrimp

FOOD WEBS

When food chains overlap, a food web is formed.

Use the chains in your group to form a food web.

Draw the food web in your science notebook.

Flounder

Porpoise

Plankton

Small Mullet

Shrimp

Trout Sea Gull

Crab

DECOMPOSERS

Decomposers are organisms such as fungi,

bacteria, and animals that play a major role in

breaking down dead matter and returning

nutrients to the soil. They also play a role in the

nitrogen cycle.

DECOMPOSERS

Add some decomposers to your food web.

Flounder

Porpoise

Plankton

Small Mullet

Shrimp

Trout Sea Gull

CrabBacteria

Mold

THE MOST IMPORTANT ROLE

The most important role an organism

(producer, consumer, or decomposer)

plays in the ecosystem is ______ because

______.

COMPARE ROLES IN THE

ECOSYSTEM

Producer

ConsumerDecomposer

Nutrition Facts

Reading a Nutrition Label

Note the serving size.

Calories indicate the amount of energy.Used for delayed

energy

Most common energy source

Protein for growth

CARBON DIOXIDE- OXYGEN CYCLE

∞ Plants and animals are linked for survival through the carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle.

PHOTOSYNTHESIS

To undergo photosynthesis, plants need:

sunlight

water

carbon dioxide

Carbon Dioxide

PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Plants make food and oxygen in the process of photosynthesis.

Plants release the oxygen into the air.

Food Oxygen

CARBON DIOXIDE

Carbon dioxide is found in the air.

It gets there from:

volcanoes erupting

burning fossil fuels

animals

ANIMALS Plants make food through a process

called photosynthesis

When animals consume the plants, they are consuming energy from the plants.

Animals convert the plant’s energy into the energy they need to grow and thrive.

CARBON DIOXIDE-OXYGEN CYCLE

Oxygen released during photosynthesis

Carbon dioxide released during respiration

DIAGRAM THE CARBON DIOXIDE

CYCLE

PhotosynthesisRespiration

Add the materials that cycle: food, water, oxygen, and carbon dioxide.

EFFECTS OF CHANGE

EFFECTS OF CHANGE

The prairie ecosystem has many populations

Use these organisms to create a food web.

The producers are in green, plant eaters in blue, and animal eaters in orange.

Tallgrass Shortgrass

Wildflowers Big Bluestem

Pronghorn BuffaloMice Prairie Dog

Black Footed Ferret

Prairie Chicken

Burrowing Owl Grasshoppers

Beetles Snakes

A LOOK AT OVERGRAZING

The next slide will show an overhead

view of a prairie.

For this slide we will only focus on the

grass and buffalo.

The grass is shown as green squares

and the buffalo as black ovals.

GRASSLAND

Each column has 10 squares of grass. There are 20 columns.Calculate how many squares of grass are available.

GRASSLAND

Each buffalo needs 25 squares of grass to survive. How many buffalo can live in this area?

GRAZING

What will happen if we put 20 buffalo in this area?

EFFECTS ON OTHER

POPULATIONSWhat will happen to the grass? Explain your answer.

EFFECTS ON OTHER

POPULATIONSWhat will happen to the ferrets? Explain your answer.

HIGHWAYS

What effects will building a highway have on the area?

LET’S EAT INSTUCTIONS

You will be given one consumer and one nutritional need:

Horned Lizard, Scorpion, Sidewinder Rattlesnake, Roadrunner

Energy to move & catch food, Growth, Energy to store for a longer time.

Study the nutritional labels for different food sources and determine which would be best for your consumer to eat!

Organisms use energy to move, breathe, eat, and carry on other routine activities. If an organism needs a lot of energy it needs to eat foods high in carbohydrates.

Help them grow – needs a diet high in protein

If they need food during a certain season – needs a diet high in fat