A food chain tells us what is eaten by what in an ecosystem.

To explain what a food chain is we first have to explore the links between plants and animals.

How are plants and animals linked?

Animals eat Plants

Why do some animals eat Plants?Why do some animals eat Plants?To get energy.

Just like us, we eat food to get energy, without energy we cannot function.

Were does all energy come from?

All energy comes from the All energy comes from the sunsun

Without this energy there would be no plants, animals or food.

The arrow points to the flow of energy The arrow points to the flow of energy at each stageat each stage

ProducersProducersThis is something that makes its own energy.

Are we Producers? Can we make our own energy?

No we have to eat food to make energy.

ConsumersConsumersThese are animals that eat plants or other animals.

There are 3 types of Consumer.

Can you name them?

Herbivore Carnivore Omnivore

HerbivoresHerbivoresThese are animals that do not eat other animals, they survive on plants.

CarnivoresCarnivoresThese are animals that eat

only meat.

OmnivoresOmnivoresSome animals, like us, eat both

plants and animals.

What is a food web?What is a food web?It is just like a spiders web, it has lots of different strands. Animals just don’t

eat the same thing all the time.

A food webA food web

Food PyramidFood Pyramid

• Everything works as a cycle, living things will eventually die. They rot and decompose in the soil. There are some things that help this decomposition.

• Minibeasts• Bacteria• Fungi

• These are called Decomposers.

Food ChainFood Chain•A food chain shows what is eaten and

always starts with a plant.

•The grass is eaten by the rabbit

Food ChainFood Chain

The grass is eaten by the rabbit, and the rabbit is eaten by the fox.