Learning Intention:

To visualise food webs and be able to investigate and predict what changes will have on the ecosystem. This activity will build upon the knowledge of food chains and classification.

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Student Activity:

In this activity you will create a food web as a class. You will be given a card with an organism on it (animal or plant) and you will find a space in the classroom. Once everyone has a card and is spread out a string will be passed around. It is your job to discuss who you are connected to, whether you eat or are eaten by that organism. The string should eventually show all connections between organisms.

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The teacher will draw this on the board however it is up to you to help and explain which direction the energy transfer is happening. This will be represented by arrows on the written food web. This written food web will need to be copied down. As a final challenge, add in a completely new organism and think about how it will affect the ecosystem. Think about things like what it eats, and population numbers of other species being affected by it.

 

Would your organism ruin the current ecosystem?

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Biological sciences.

Interactions between organisms can be described in terms of food chains and food webs and can be affected by human activity (VCSSU093)

- constructing and interpreting food chains and food webs to show relationships between organisms in an environment