Reading Food Web Diagrams

REPRESENTATIONAL

Science›Ecosystems & Habitats|Ages 8—9|ID: mt_uVaS12lN1i

Read and interpret food web diagrams — identify producers, primary and secondary consumers, and decomposers; trace energy flow along food chains within the web; predict the effect of removing or adding a species

Mastery Evidence

Identify the producer, herbivore, and carnivore in a food web from a diagram
Trace two food chains through the same food web and identify shared species
Predict what would happen to fox numbers if rabbits were removed from a food web diagram

Assessment Prompt

“If [child] is shown a diagram with arrows connecting plants, insects, frogs, and hawks, can they trace which animals eat which and explain what would happen if the frogs disappeared?”

Prerequisites1

Reading and drawing circuit diagrams
softAges 9—10

Show full prerequisite tree

Reading and drawing circuit diagrams soft
Reading food web arrows requires the same diagram-reading conventions as circuit diagrams — both are directed-graph notations

Unlocks2

Energy Loss Between Levels
hardAges 11—12
Food Webs & Interdependence
hardAges 11—12