All About Food Chains

ALL ABOUT FOOD CHAINS
Photo: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/
Photo: Nick Hobgood, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
As you know, all living things have to eat food. Whether you are a clown
fish or a tiger, food is a necessity! Many different types of animals share
habitats and live in communities together. Many times, one type of animal
will be a source of food for another type of animal in a community.
Within a food chain, some living things are producers and some are
consumers. Plants are producers, as they make their own food (using
sunlight, soil, and other elements). Animals are consumers because they
have to eat other animals and plants.
Photo: Mike Baird, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
There are four different types of consumers in the animal kingdom. A
carnivore is an animal that only eats other animals. An herbivore is an
animal that only eats plants. An omnivore is an animal that eats both plants
and animals. A scavenger is an animal that eats dead animals.
The diagram to the left is an
example of two food chains. A food
chain shows the order that animals
eat each other in a community. In
the image to the left, you can see
what animal or plant is food for
another animal in its community. For
instance, the food chain with the
eagle shows how a leaf is food for a
grasshopper, which then becomes
food for a hungry mouse. The
mouse is food for a snake, which is
then eaten by an eagle. In this way,
all of these animals are connected.
Photo: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License
Photo: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
What happens to a food chain when the number of animals in a community
changes too much? Sea otters can help us understand the answer to this
question. Sea otters are needed members of the ocean community because
they eat sea urchins. In places where there are low numbers of sea otters,
the number of sea urchins increases too much because they are not being
eaten by sea otters. As a result, the sea urchins eat too much of a food called
kelp, which destroys many ocean communities because many ocean
creatures rely on kelp to survive. This proves how sea otters are not only cute
but needed members of their communities.
Words to Remember
Photo: Hans Hillewaert, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/
Habitat: A place where an
animal lives that gives it the
food, shelter, water, and other
elements it needs to survive.
Community: Two or more
types of animals that live in a
habitat together.
Producers: Living things that
create their own food to
survive, like plants.
Consumers: Animals that
have to eat plants or other
animals to survive.
Carnivore: An animal that only eats other animals.
Herbivore: An animal that only eats plants.
Omnivore: An animal that eats both other animals and plants.
Scavenger: An animal that eats dead animals.
Food Chain: Shows the order that animals eat each other in a community
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