Food Chain
Key Stage 1
Meaning
A diagram used to show which creatures eat which other creatures in a habitat.
About Food Chains
- Food chains always start with a plant.
- Food chains use arrows to show which animals are eaten by which other animals. The arrow points from the food to the animal that eats it.
- You do not need to draw your own creatures in a food chain, you can just write their names.
Examples
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| In this food chain the leaf is eaten by the caterpillar. The caterpillar is eaten by the chameleon. |
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| In this food chain The grass is eaten by the grasshopper and the grasshopper is eaten by the snake. |
- Apple → Fly → Frog → Hawk
- Seaweed → Turtle → Shark
- Bush → Mountain Goat → Snow Leopard
- Leaf → Termite → Vole → Fox → Eagle
Key Stage 2
Meaning
A food chain is a diagram used to show which creatures rely on each other for food in a habitat
About Food Chains
- A food chain always begins with a producer which is a creature that makes its own food, like plant.
- The producer in a food chain is always eaten by a consumer.
- The arrows in a food chain always point from the food to the animal that eats it.
Producers and Consumers
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| In this food chain the bush is the producer and the gazelle and cheetah are consumers. |
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| In this food chain the grass is the producer and the grasshopper, baboon and cheetah are all consumers. |
Predators and Prey
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| In this food chain the tree is a plant so it cannot be a predator or prey. The rhinoceros is prey because it gets hunted by the lion. The lion is a predator because it hunts the rhinoceros. |
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| In this food chain the grass is a plant so it cannot be a predator or prey. The grasshopper is prey for the baboon. The baboon is the predator of a grasshopper, but the baboon is also the prey of the cheetah. The cheetah is the predator of the baboon. |
Key Stage 3
Meaning
A food chain is a diagram used to show the transfer of energy between organisms in a community.
To see the answers to the questions in the video, click here: [1]
About Food Chains
- A food chain always begins with a producer which is a creature that makes its own food, like plant.
- A food chain usually ends with a top carnivore which is not eaten by other carnivores.
- The arrows in a food chain always point from the food to the animal that eats it.
- The producer in a food chain is always eaten by a consumer.
- With each consumer the total energy gets smaller. When the primary consumer eats the producer it does not get all the energy because the producer used some of that energy in respiration. When the secondary consumer eats the primary consumer it does not get all the energy because the primary consumer used that energy for movement, it lost some energy in respiration and parts of its body cannot be digested by the secondary consumer.
Producers and Consumers
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| In this food chain the tree is the producer, the giraffe is a primary consumer and the lion is a secondary consumer as well as a top carnivore. |
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| In this food chain the grass is a producer. The grasshopper, pied flycatcher, skunk and vulture are all consumers. The vulture is also a top carnivore. |
Key Stage 4
Meaning
A food chain is a diagram used to show the transfer of energy between organisms in a community.
About Food Chains
- A food chain is split into several trophic levels.
- The first trophic level in food chains are producers which make their own food by photosynthesis.
- The last trophic level in a food chain is usually an apex predator which may be a tertiary consumer or a quaternary consumer.
- The arrows in a food chain always point in the direction of energy transfer between the trophic levels.
- The producer in a food chain is always eaten by a consumer.
- With each consumer the total energy passed to the next trophic level is smaller.
- When the primary consumer eats the producer it does not get all the energy because the producer used some of that energy in respiration. The primary consumer also cannot digest all of the parts of the producer so some energy is wasted as faeces.
- When the secondary consumer eats the primary consumer it does not get all the energy because the primary consumer used that energy for movement, it lost some energy in respiration and parts of its body cannot be digested by the secondary consumer.
Producers and Consumers
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| In this food chain the tree is the first trophic level (a producer), the giraffe is a primary consumer and the lion is the last trophic level (a secondary consumer) as well as an apex predator. |
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| In this food chain the grass is the first trophic level (a producer). The grasshopper, pied flycatcher, skunk and vulture are all consumers. The vulture is also the last trophic level and a top carnivore. It is not an apex predator because it does not hunt for prey, it is a scavenger. |
References
AQA
- Food chain, pages 322, 328, 330, GCSE Biology; Student Book, Collins, AQA
- Food chains, page 263, GCSE Combined Science Trilogy; Biology, CGP, AQA
- Food chains, pages 109, 120, 121, GCSE Biology; The Revision Guide, CGP, AQA
- Food chains, pages 276-277, 288-289, 306, GCSE Biology; Third Edition, Oxford University Press, AQA
- Food chains, pages 287-94, GCSE Biology, Hodder, AQA
- Food chains, pages 323, 353, GCSE Biology, CGP, AQA
- Food chains, pages 95, GCSE Combined Science Trilogy 2, Hodder, AQA
Edexcel
- Food chains, page 124, GCSE Biology, Pearson, Edexcel
- Food chains, page 289, GCSE Biology, CGP, Edexcel
- Food chains, page 86, GCSE Combined Science, Pearson Edexcel