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Year 9

Antarctic food webs

I can describe what food webs are and explain how Antarctic food webs work.

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New
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Year 9

Antarctic food webs

I can describe what food webs are and explain how Antarctic food webs work.

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Share activities with pupils
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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Food webs display the transfers of energy within one location.
  2. Antarctic food webs contain phytoplankton (producers), krill and squid (consumers) and leopard seals (apex predators).
  3. Changes to food webs arising from overfishing can affect different species.
  4. The Ross Sea Marine Park Area has been established to help protect young fish.

Keywords

  • Producer - an organism that makes its own food using sunlight

  • Consumer - an organism that eats other organisms for energy

  • Apex predator - an organism at the top of the food chain, with no natural enemies

Common misconception

A food web is linear.

A food web is not linear, it is complex and interconnected.


To help you plan your year 9 geography lesson on: Antarctic food webs, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Get the students to create their own food webs. Give them all the information and ask them to put them in the correct place as a food web.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What makes Antarctica the coldest place on Earth?
Its high altitude
Correct answer: Its location at the South Pole and permanent ice cover
Its lack of rain
Q2.
How does ice help keep Earth's temperature stable?
Correct answer: It reflects sunlight, preventing too much heat from entering Earth
It absorbs sunlight and warms Earth
It releases heat into the atmosphere
Q3.
What is the difference between snow and ice?
Snow and ice are the same thing
Ice is liquid water, and snow is solid
Snow is water, and ice is steam
Correct answer: Snow is frozen water vapour, and ice is frozen water
Q4.
Which of these is a major threat to cold environments?
Too many trees growing
Correct answer: Climate change and melting ice
Rising sea levels
More animals migrating there
Q5.
Where is the largest ice sheet in the world located?
Greenland
Siberia
Correct answer: Antarctica
Iceland
Q6.
Which of the following animals is found in Antarctica?
Correct answer: Emperor penguins
Lions
Elephants
Kangaroos

Exit quiz

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5 Questions

Q1.
Unlike a food chain, which is linear, a food is complex and interconnected.
Correct Answer: web
Q2.
What is a producer?
Correct answer: An organism that makes its own food using sunlight
An animal that hunts other animals
An organism that eats only plants
Q3.
What is a consumer in a food web?
An organism that makes its own food
A plant that gets energy from the sun
Correct answer: An organism that eats other organisms
A decomposer that breaks down dead plants
Q4.
Which animal is an apex predator in Antarctica?
Emperor penguin
Correct answer: Leopard seal
Antarctic krill
Q5.
What is the role of krill in the Antarctic food web?
Correct answer: They are primary consumers, feeding on phytoplankton
They are apex predators
They are decomposers
They are producers