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Grade Level (s): 7
Introduction: Both plants and animals play vital roles in distributing energy among organism to maintain life. Food chains and food webs demonstrate the interdependence of organisms in order to accomplish this transfer of energy. Food chains are a straight-line connection from one organism to another. Food webs are all the food chains in a system and their complex interactions.
In this activity, students will create a three-dimensional food web of organisms found in a marine environment off the coasts of Florida.
Marine environments are not only the playgrounds for humans that enjoy water sports or cruises. Above and below the surfaces of our oceans and seas is a dynamic interaction of plants and animals producing and consuming energy to survive. Florida is a peninsula and uses its nearby marine environments for many activities such as tourism, fishing, boating and swimming.
Learner Objectives:
- Students will identify the interdependence of producers, consumers and decomposers in an environment.
- Students will demonstrate the impact of available food in a system when organisms are removed.
- Students understand that changes in one ecosystem can impact other ecosystems.
Florida Sunshine State Standards Correlation: Science: SC.G.2.3.2, SC.G.1.3.4
Competency-Based Curriculum Correlation: Science: Sci.M/J2 II.2.A
Materials:
Activity Picture Sheets
Animal/Plant Description Sheets
Poster Board/Gift Boxes (large)
Markers
String
Glue
Tape
Scissors
Activity Procedures:
- Ask students to describe some of the organisms found in the nearby oceans or seas.
- Have students share their thoughts on how these organisms get energy to stay alive.
- Have students discuss the relationships between the organisms that they described.
- Divide students into work groups of three or four students to work cooperatively on the assignment.
- Provide students with activity picture sheets, animal description sheets, poster board, markers and string.
- Students are to use materials to create an ocean environment with the animals and plants found in it.
- Fold the poster board in half so that it forms an L shape. This will represent the sky and the ocean. If using gift boxes, cut one of the long sides of the box so that students can see clearly into the box from the front view, following the same L shape as above.
Note: Remember to draw the sun in the sky.
- Cut the animals out, leaving enough paper at the bottom to fold back so that the organism stands up, off the board. Tape or glue base to the appropriate habitat on the poster board.
- Using the animal description sheets, tape string between organisms that feed on each other.
- Cut out arrowheads from a sheet of paper. Attach an arrowhead at the end of the string in the direction towards the organism that is feeding or obtaining the energy.
- Remove a species of plant or animal from the food web by cutting the string that leads to where the organism obtains its energy.
- Lay flat the organisms that lose all their food source(s). This indicates that the organism is dead.
Assessment:
- Students present food webs orally.
- Describe the impact of the removal of one of the species in the ocean environment. What happens if several species are removed?
- Research and create a terrestrial environment with animal and plants. Are there food web connections between the terrestrial environment and the marine environment?
Activity Extensions:
If humans were introduced to the food web, what percentage of marine species would be directly affected?
Vocabulary: autotrophs, consumers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, detritivores, heterotrophs, decomposers
References:
Johnson, G. B. (1995). Evolution and Natural Selection. In K. Harris, L. Jegerlehner, K. Timp, J. Leland (Eds.), The Living World (pp. 567-561) Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Publishers
Krempels, D. (1998). Go Figure Critical Thinking and Experimental Design in the Biology Laboratory. Unpublished, University of Miami Department of Biology
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