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The Northern Yosemite region is world-renowned for its stunning scenery and great recreation opportunities. CSERC is the key non-profit organization working to defend water, wildlife, and wild places across this spectacular region. Volunteer with CSERC and make a difference for nature! Learn how to get involved!

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All living things need to feed to get energy to grow, move and reproduce. But what do they eat, and where does all the energy come from? Where does the energy end up? Let us find out here.

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Interactive Learning Sites for Education

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Interactive Learning Sites for Education

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FOOD CHAINS FOLLOW A SINGLE PATH AS ANIMALS EAT EACH OTHER.

EXAMPLE:

THE SUN provides food for GRASS

The GRASS is eaten by a GRASSHOPPER

The GRASSHOPPER is eaten by a FROG

The FROG is eaten by a SNAKE

The SNAKE is eaten by a HAWK.

FOOD WEBS SHOW HOW PLANTS & ANIMALS ARE INTERCONNECTED BY DIFFERENT PATHS.

EXAMPLE:

TREES produce ACORNS which act as food for many MICE and INSECTS.

Because there are many MICE, WEASELS and SNAKES have food.

The insects and the acorns also attract BIRDS, SKUNKS, and OPOSSUMS.

With the SKUNKS, OPPOSUMS, WEASELS and MICE around, HAWKS, FOXES, and OWLS can find food.

They are all connected! Like a spiders web, if one part is removed, it can affect the whole web.

FOOD WEBS show how plants and animals are connected in many ways to help them all survive. FOOD CHAINS follow just one path of energy as animals find food.

Click below to download the PDF of this information.

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What is the difference between food chains and food webs?

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EXAMPLE: THE SUN provides food for GRASS The GRASS is eaten by a GRASSHOPPER The GRASSHOPPER is eaten by a FROG The FROG is eaten by a SNAKE The SNAKE is eaten by a HAWK. EXAMPLE: TREES produce ACORNS which act as food for many MICE and INSECTS.

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The food chain describes who eats whom in the wild. Every living thing-from one-celled algae to giant blue whales-needs food to survive. Each food chain is a possible pathway that energy and nutrients can follow through the ecosystem.

For example, grass produces its own food from sunlight. A rabbit eats the grass. A fox eats the rabbit. When the fox dies, bacteria break down its body, returning it to the soil where it provides nutrients for plants like grass.

Of course, many different animals eat grass, and rabbits can eat other plants besides grass. Foxes, in turn, can eat many types of animals and plants. Each of these living things can be a part of multiple food chains. All of the interconnected and overlapping food chains in an ecosystem make up a food web.

Trophic Levels

Organisms in food chains are grouped into categories called trophic levels. Roughly speaking, these levels are divided into producers (first trophic level), consumers (second, third, and fourth trophic levels), and decomposers.

Producers, also known as autotrophs, make their own food. They make up the first level of every food chain. Autotrophs are usually plants or one-celled organisms. Nearly all autotrophs use a process called photosynthesis to create "food" (a nutrient called glucose) from sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water.

Plants are the most familiar type of autotroph, but there are many other kinds. Algae, whose larger forms are known as seaweed, are autotrophic. Phytoplankton, tiny organisms that live in the ocean, are also autotrophs. Some types of bacteria are autotrophs. For example, bacteria living in active volcanoes use sulfur compounds to produce their own food. This process is called chemosynthesis.

The second trophic level consists of organisms that eat the producers. These are called primary consumers, or herbivores. Deer, turtles, and many types of birds are herbivores. Secondary consumers eat the herbivores. Tertiary consumers eat the secondary consumers. There may be more levels of consumers before a chain finally reaches its top predator. Top predators, also called apex predators, eat other consumers.

Consumers can be carnivores (animals that eat other animals) or omnivores (animals that eat both plants and animals). Omnivores, like people, consume many types of foods. People eat plants, such as vegetables and fruits. We also eat animals and animal products, such as meat, milk, and eggs. We eat fungi, such as mushrooms. We also eat algae, in edible seaweeds like nori (used to wrap sushi rolls) and sea lettuce (used in salads).

Detritivores and decomposers are the final part of food chains. Detritivores are organisms that eat nonliving plant and animal remains. For example, scavengers such as vultures eat dead animals. Dung beetles eat animal feces.

Decomposers like fungi and bacteria complete the food chain. They turn organic wastes, such as decay ing plants, into inorganic materials, such as nutrient-rich soil. Decomposers complete the cycle of life, returning nutrients to the soil or oceans for use by autotrophs. This starts a whole new food chain.

Food Chains

Different habitats and ecosystems provide many possible food chains that make up a food web.

In one marine food chain, single-celled organisms called phytoplankton provide food for tiny shrimp called krill. Krill provide the main food source for the blue whale, an animal on the third trophic level.

In a grassland ecosystem, a grasshopper might eat grass, a producer. The grasshopper might get eaten by a rat, which in turn is consumed by a snake. Finally, a hawk-an apex predator-swoops down and snatches up the snake.

In a pond, the autotroph might be algae. A mosquito larva eats the algae, and then perhaps a dragonfly larva eats the young mosquito. The dragonfly larva becomes food for a fish, which provides a tasty meal for a raccoon.

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Writers

Kim Rutledge
Melissa McDaniel
Diane Boudreau
Tara Ramroop
Santani Teng
Erin Sprout
Hilary Costa
Hilary Hall
Jeff Hunt

Illustrators

Tim Gunther
Mary Crooks, National Geographic Society

Editors

Kara West
Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing

Educator Reviewer

Nancy Wynne

Producer

Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society

Sources

Dunn, Margery G. (Editor). (1989, 1993). "Exploring Your World: The Adventure of Geography." Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.

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The food chain describes who eats whom in the wild. Every living thing-from one-celled algae to giant blue whales-needs food to survive. Each food chain is a possible pathway that energy and nutrients can follow through the ecosystem. For example, grass produces its own food from sunlight. A rabbit eats the grass.

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DK Find Out! | Fun Facts for Kids on Animals, Earth, History and more!

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Visit DK Find Out! to learn about dinosaurs, space, animals, nature & more. Fun learning activities for kids with videos, quizzes & galleries at DKFindOut.com

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Predator or prey, consumer or producer? How about all of the above? Tim and Moby talk about how the food chain connects every species.

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Kids learn about the food chain and food web. How energy cycles and transfers through living organisms.

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Food Chains Compilation: Crash Course Kids... - SafeShare.tv

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Maybe you'd like to just hear about one topic for a while. We understand. So today, let's just watch some videos about how we get energy. And how one animal gets energy from another animal, or a plant. It's all about food chains and food webs in this Crash Course Kids Compilation.

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Everyone plays a specific role in the food chain of life. You might be a human thinking they are king of the hill or you might be a bacterium under the feet. You are very important to the survival of the system no matter what role you play.

As you study more about ecosystems and cycles in life, you will see the terms food chains and food webs. They describe the same series of events that happen when one organism consumes another to survive. Food web is a more accurate term since every organism is involved with several other organisms. Cows might be food for humans, bacteria, or flies. Each of those flies might be connected to frogs, microbes, or spiders. There are dozens of connections for every organism. When you draw all of those connecting lines, you get a web-like shape.

Producers are the beginning of a simple food chain. Producers are plants and vegetables. Plants are at the beginning of every food chain that involves the Sun. All energy comes from the Sun and plants are the ones who make food with that energy. They use the process of photosynthesis. Plants also make loads of other nutrients for other organisms to eat.

There are also photosynthetic protists that start food chains. You might find them floating on the surface of the ocean acting as food for small unicellular animals.

Consumers are the next link in a food chain. There are three levels of consumers. The levels start with the organisms that eat plants. Scientists named this first group of organisms the primary consumers. They are also called herbivores. They are the plant eaters of the chain. It might be a squirrel or it might be an elk. It will be out there eating plants and fruits. It will not eat animals.

Secondary consumers eat the primary consumers. A mouse might be a primary consumer and a cat might be the secondary. Secondary consumers are also called carnivores. Carnivore means "meat eater."

In some ecosystems, there is a third level of consumer called the tertiary consumer (that means third level). These are consumers that eat the secondary and primary consumers. A tertiary consumer could be a wolf that eats the cat and the mouse.

There are also consumers called omnivores. Omnivores can either be secondary or tertiary consumers. Humans and bears are considered omnivores: we eat meat, plants, and just about anything.

The last links in the chain are the decomposers. If you die, they eat you. If you poop, they eat that. If you lose a leaf, they eat it. Whenever something that was alive dies, the decomposers get it. Decomposers break down nutrients in the dead "stuff" and return it to the soil. The producers can then use the nutrients and elements once it's in the soil. The decomposers complete the system, returning essential molecules to the producers.

Or search the sites for a specific topic.

Lake Temperatures and Ecosystems (US-NSF Video)

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Geography4Kids.com! This tutorial introduces food chains. Other sections include the atmosphere, biosphere, climates, and ecosystems.