Activity 2: Teaching Tips
Students who require extra individual attention may wish to use a copy of
Blackline Master Ecology 2.1: A Food Chain to cut up and rearrange the
diagrams on a sheet of paper. Ask the students to label each organism as a
producer or consumer, and as a herbivore and a carnivore. Remind them that
the arrows they draw should point in the direction of energy transfer.
You may wish to provide students with Blackline Master Ecology 2.3:
Vocabulary Practice to help in their vocabulary building.
The diagram on student page 517 is provided as
Blackline Master Ecology 2.4: The Food Web. Emphasize to the students that the arrows point in the direction of the energy flow. Some students get confused and assume that the arrows should point from the predator to its prey.
Emphasize once again the role of the decomposers. This will become more evident to the students when they study the cycling of matter later in this chapter.
Continue with the idea of animal adaptations to the environment introduced
in the first activity. Have students look at the eyes of a herbivore and the eyes
of a carnivore. The photographs on pages 518 and 519 are good examples to use.
You can use the following questions to guide their observations:
• Where are the eyes of a herbivore located and in which direction are they facing?
(The eyes are located at the side of the head and are facing outward.)
• Where are the eyes of a carnivore located and in which direction are they facing?
(The eyes are located at the front of the head and face forward.)
• What advantage is the placement of the eyes to each type of animal?
(The placement of the eyes of a herbivore allow the animal to watch for approach-ing predators. The placement of the eyes of a carnivore allows the animal to watch its prey as it is chasing it and provides accuracy as it pounces.)
• Where are the eyes of a herbivore placed in relation to its mouth?
What is the advantage of this adaptation?
(The eyes of a herbivore are often located well above and away from the mouth. This permits the animal to see approaching predators while feeding.)
• Where are the eyes of a carnivore placed in relation to its mouth?
What is the advantage of this adaptation?
(The eyes of a carnivore are usually located close to its mouth.
The mouth (or beak) is often used in killing the prey.)
Ask the students to consider the question posed under the photograph:
How are primary consumers a benefit to plants?
The answer is provided in the reading above. Without primary consumers,
plants might die from overcrowding and lack of nutrients.
Students may also suggest that some primary consumers help to pollinate plants. Also, burrs stuck to the fur of primary consumers help in the dispersal of seeds.
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