Food chains
I can identify producers and consumers and explain what is shown by a food chain diagram.
Food chains
I can identify producers and consumers and explain what is shown by a food chain diagram.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Producers are organisms that can make their own food, including plants and some microorganisms.
- Consumers (e.g. humans and other animals) cannot make their own food; they get their food by eating other organisms.
- A food chain diagram shows the feeding relationships between populations of organisms.
- The arrows in a food chain diagram represent transfers of biomass.
- A change in the size of a population will affect other populations in the food chain.
Common misconception
Arrows mean "eats" in a food chain diagram. Each level is an individual organism.
This lesson explores the meaning of the arrows, and the idea that each level of a food chain diagram is a population of organisms.
Keywords
Producer - A producer is an organism that makes its own food.
Consumer - A consumer is an organism that eats other organisms for food.
Food chain - A food chain diagram shows how food is transferred from one population of organisms to another.
Population - A group of organisms of the same type in the same place is called a population.
Model - Scientists use models as simpler representations of complex things and ideas.
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).
Video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
producer
consumer
consumer
Exit quiz
6 Questions
producer
primary consumer
secondary consumer
a diagram that shows what an organism eats.
an organism that eats other organisms to get food.
an organism that makes its own food.
a group of organisms of the same type in the same area
