Lesson 1 of 6
Food chains
Goal: Construct and interpret food chains.
A food chain shows what eats what. Each arrow points from the food to the living thing that eats it.
Read each arrow as “is eaten by”. Energy is transferred the same way: from the grass to the rabbit, then from the rabbit to the fox.
- A producer starts every chain. It is a green plant or an alga, which makes its own food by photosynthesis.
- Consumers eat other living things. A primary consumer eats the producer. A secondary consumer eats the primary consumer. A tertiary consumer comes next.
- A top predator ends the chain. Nothing in its ecosystem hunts it.
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Key words in this lesson
Food chain Shows what eats what, in one line that starts with a producer
Producer A green plant or alga that makes its own food
Consumer An animal that eats plants or other animals
Primary consumer The first consumer in a chain: it eats the producer
Secondary consumer The second consumer in a chain: it eats the primary consumer
Predator An animal that hunts and eats other animals
Ecosystem The living things in an area and their non-living environment