Toxins Building Up in Food Chains

CONCEPTUAL

Science›Ecosystems & Habitats|Ages 12—13|ID: mt_YvCgDM0Scg

Explain how organisms affect and are affected by their environment, including the bioaccumulation of toxic materials (e.g. pesticides, heavy metals) through food chains

Mastery Evidence

Defines bioaccumulation and explains why toxins increase in concentration higher up the food chain
Gives a real example of bioaccumulation (e.g. DDT in peregrine falcons, mercury in tuna)
Explains how organisms can change their habitat (e.g. earthworms aerating soil, beavers creating wetlands)
Discusses why top predators are most at risk from bioaccumulation

Assessment Prompt

“If [child] heard that large fish like tuna can contain more mercury than small fish, could they explain why that is — even though the tuna didn’t encounter mercury directly?”

Curriculum Standards3 alignments

MS-LS2-4Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Middle Schoolcodes only

Standard code — full text not included in this dataset.

MS-LS2-5Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Middle Schoolcodes only

Standard code — full text not included in this dataset.

KS3.Sci.Bio.Ecosystem.3The national curriculum in England

Organisms and their environment

how organisms affect, and are affected by, their environment, including the accumulation of toxic materials

Science · KS3

Prerequisites1

Food Webs & Interdependence
hardAges 11—12

Show full prerequisite tree

Food Webs & Interdependence hard
Bioaccumulation occurs through food chains and webs — the feeding relationships must be understood first
- Ecology Vocabulary hard
  Constructing food webs and understanding interdependence requires food web, producer, decomposer vocabulary
- Food Chains & Energy Transfer hard
  KS3 food webs and ecosystem interdependence extends KS2 introduction to food chains with producers, predators and prey
  - Rainforest Food Webs soft
    Rainforest food webs enrich curriculum food chains topic (exploratory age 7 -> curriculum age 8)
    - Rainforest Plants hard
      Must know rainforest plants (producers) before constructing food webs
      - Rainforest Layers hard
        Plants taught in context of layers (epiphytes in canopy, lianas climbing trunks)
        
        What Is a Rainforest? hard
        Must know what a rainforest is before learning its four layers
    - Rainforest Animals hard
      Must know rainforest animals before constructing food chains with them
      - Rainforest Layers hard
        Animals are taught in context of which layer they inhabit
        
        What Is a Rainforest? hard
        Must know what a rainforest is before learning its four layers
  - Animal Nutrition soft
    Nutrition knowledge supports understanding why animals occupy different trophic levels
    - Herbivores, Carnivores & Omnivores soft
      Carnivore/herbivore/omnivore classification supports understanding nutrition differences
      - Naming Common Animals hard
        Must identify animal groups before classifying by diet
    - What Living Things Need hard
      Must know basic survival needs before learning about nutrition types and food groups
      - Common Plants & Trees soft
        Knowing plants helps understand what they need
      - Living Things Vocabulary soft
        Describing what plants and animals need to survive uses life processes vocabulary: nutrition, growth, sensitivity
      - Naming Common Animals soft
        Knowing animals helps understand what they need
  - Simple Food Chains hard
    Must understand simple food chains before constructing complex ones with producer/predator/prey terminology
    - Herbivores, Carnivores & Omnivores hard
      Must know carnivore/herbivore/omnivore to understand food chains
      - Naming Common Animals hard
        Must identify animal groups before classifying by diet
    - Habitats & Basic Needs hard
      Must know about habitats and interdependence before learning food chains
      - Where Are the Poles? soft
        Polar regions enrich the curriculum habitats topic (exploratory age 5 -> curriculum age 6)
      - Habitat Vocabulary hard
        Describing how habitats provide for basic needs requires habitat, environment, conditions, shelter vocabulary
      - What Is a Rainforest? soft
        Rainforest habitat knowledge enriches the curriculum habitats topic (exploratory age 5 -> curriculum age 6)
      - What Living Things Need hard
        Must know basic needs of organisms before understanding how habitats provide for those needs
        
        Common Plants & Trees soft
        Knowing plants helps understand what they need
        
        Living Things Vocabulary soft
        Describing what plants and animals need to survive uses life processes vocabulary: nutrition, growth, sensitivity
        
        Naming Common Animals soft
        Knowing animals helps understand what they need
      - What Ocean Animals Need soft
        Ocean animal needs parallels curriculum habitats/basic needs concept
        
        What Is the Ocean? soft
        Ocean animal needs are contextualised by knowing what the ocean is
      - Animal Homes soft
        Animal homes concept is enriched by curriculum habitats topic
        
        Animals Everywhere hard
        Animal homes builds on knowing animals live everywhere
      - Living, Dead & Never Alive hard
        Must distinguish living from non-living before understanding habitats that support living things
        
        Common Plants & Trees soft
        Knowing plant names helps distinguish living from non-living
        
        Living Things Vocabulary hard
        Comparing living, dead, and never-been-alive things requires the life processes vocabulary to give reasons
        
        Naming Common Animals soft
        Knowing animal groups helps distinguish living from non-living
      - Minibeast Habitats soft
        Exploratory micro-habitats knowledge enriches curriculum habitats topic
        
        Common minibeasts: naming and recognising hard
        Must recognise common minibeasts before exploring where each type lives
        
        What is a minibeast? hard
        Must understand what minibeasts are before learning to name specific ones
    - Ocean Food Chains soft
      Ocean food chain parallels curriculum simple food chain concept
      - What Ocean Animals Need soft
        Food chains explain how animals meet their need for food
        
        What Is the Ocean? soft
        Ocean animal needs are contextualised by knowing what the ocean is
      - Ocean Animal Variety soft
        Food chains benefit from knowing the variety of animals that eat each other
    - Minibeasts in the food chain soft
      Garden minibeast food chains provide concrete examples for curriculum simple-food-chains
      - Common minibeasts: naming and recognising hard
        Must know common minibeasts before placing them in food chains
        
        What is a minibeast? hard
        Must understand what minibeasts are before learning to name specific ones
    - Rainforest Animals soft
      Rainforest animals provide rich examples for simple food chains (exploratory age 5 -> curriculum age 6)
      - Rainforest Layers hard
        Animals are taught in context of which layer they inhabit
        
        What Is a Rainforest? hard
        Must know what a rainforest is before learning its four layers
  - Ecology Vocabulary hard
    Constructing and interpreting food chains requires producer, consumer, predator, prey vocabulary
  - Ocean Food Webs soft
    Ocean food webs build on curriculum food chains with trophic levels
    - Classifying Ocean Animals soft
      Food webs benefit from knowing animal classification groups
      - Whales & Dolphins Are Mammals hard
        Classifying marine mammals vs fish builds on whale/dolphin are mammals concept
        
        Ocean Animal Variety soft
        Mammals vs fish distinction benefits from knowing ocean animal variety
      - Ocean Animal Variety hard
        Classifying ocean animals builds on knowing the variety exists
    - Ocean Food Chains hard
      Food webs extend simple food chains to interconnected networks
      - What Ocean Animals Need soft
        Food chains explain how animals meet their need for food
        
        What Is the Ocean? soft
        Ocean animal needs are contextualised by knowing what the ocean is
      - Ocean Animal Variety soft
        Food chains benefit from knowing the variety of animals that eat each other
- Reading Food Web Diagrams hard
  Constructing and interpreting food webs requires the food web diagram representation
  - Reading and drawing circuit diagrams soft
    Reading food web arrows requires the same diagram-reading conventions as circuit diagrams — both are directed-graph notations

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