Food for thought Antarctic Food Web. Photo credit: Will Reid

Transcription

1 Food for thought Antarctic Food Web Photo credit: Will Reid

2 Notes for teachers: Food for thought is an interactive food webs game, designed to give pupils an appreciation for the fact that every organism living in a community is interconnected through feeding relationships. Split the class in two and hand a double sided print-out of each of the following organism cards to half of the class. The other half will be responsible for helping to construct the food web, based on the key facts printed on the reverse of the picture cards. This role can be reversed by using another one of our food for thought packs downloadable from the website. You will also need a hole puncher, for use where an is indicated, and some strips of wool attached to treasury tags to hold the food web together. Get pupils to think about which organisms are producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers and top predators to start them off. You can also use the bacteria card if you wish to symbolise decomposition of permanent, sea living organisms in the food web. A guide of what the finished food web should look like is below: SUN SEA BIRDS PENGUINS ALGAE BALEEN WHALE KRILL SEALS FISH SQUID BACTERIA KILLER WHALE Scenario cards are provided, as printable documents, of events that would affect organisms in the food web. The pupil holding the organism that is affected sits down symbolising their removal from the food web. Feeding connections to this organism are severed and the effect of its removal on other organisms similarly indicated. ` This activity has sustainable development implications, by considering the impacts Of humans on the marine environment and possible ways of managing this.

3 Seals Photo credit: Paul Dunford

4 Key Facts: Feeds on land and in the sea. Carnivores that hunt and kill their prey.

5 Algae Photo credit: Gordon Beakes, Newcastle University

6 Key Facts: Tiny marine plants that float around on the waters surface and grow on the underside of sea ice. Producers that make their own energy using the process of photosynthesis.

7 Sun

8 Key Facts: The primary source of energy for most food webs on the planet. Used by producers to make energy through the process of photosynthesis.

9 Killer Whales Photo credit: Tim Edgell

10 Key Facts: Top predators that migrate through the Antarctic to feed in rich waters. Catch large fish and other animals found in the water. Too big to be eaten until they have died.

11 Bacteria Photo credit: Gordon Beakes, Newcastle University

12 Key Facts: Microscopic organisms. Break down dead plants and animals to release nutrients back into the water column.

13 Squid Photo credit: NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Centre

14 Key Facts: Secondary consumers that feed by catching krill in their sticky tentacles. Squid are actually related to marine snails!

15 Krill

16 Key Facts: The most important organism in the Antarctic food web. Primary consumers that graze on algae, which grows on the underside of sea ice.

17 Seabirds Photo credit: Paul Dunford

18 Key Facts: Antarctic seabirds are serious carnivores! Feed by diving down into the water column to catch their prey.

19 Baleen Whales Photo credit: Wiep Klaas Smits

20 Key Facts: Have huge sieves in their mouths to filter out krill and other zooplankton from the water column. Generally too large to be eaten until they have died.

21 Penguins Photo credit: Paul Dunford

22 Key Facts: Flightless birds whose wings have adapted to flippers to help them swim through the water. Secondary consumers that feed by diving down into the water column at speed to catch their prey.

23 Antarctic fish Photo credit:

24 Key Facts: Secondary consumers, but are hunted by top predators that live in the Antarctic seas. The fish pictured is a Scotia Sea ice fish, specially adapted to life in freezing cold waters.