FOOD CHAINS, HABITATS, AND US 60 Minute Life Science Lesson Science-to-Go! Program TEACHER GUIDE Grades: 3 - 5
FOOD CHAINS, HABITATS, AND US
Description Objectives Examine our collection of Ohio animal skulls Identify an animal's role in the food chain and furs and identify each animal's diet based (herbivore, omnivore, carnivore) by on its teeth adaptations. Then, add your observing its teeth. discoveries to a food web to explore how Create a food chain highlighting how energy from the Sun is transferred from energy is transferred to these producers to consumers, and why the amount different roles. of available energy is reduced at each level of a Model the importance of a balanced food chain. We will discuss how humans ecosystem through student role play. impact the flow of energy and nutrients in various ecosystems, and identify our crucial role in protecting natural diversity.
Ohio’s Learning Standards
Grade 3: Life Science - Behavior, Growth and Changes Offspring resemble their parents and each other. Individuals of the same kind of organism differ in their inherited traits. These differences give some individuals an advantage in surviving and/or reproducing. Plants and animals have life cycles that are part of their adaptations for survival in their natural environments.
Ohio’s Learning Standards Continued Grade 4: Life Science - Earth’s Living History Changes in an organism’s environment are sometimes beneficial to its survival and sometimes harmful. Fossils can be compared to one another and to present-day organisms according to their similarities and differences. Grade 5: Life Science - Interactions within Ecosystems Organisms perform a variety of roles in an ecosystem. All of the processes that take place within organisms require energy.
How to Set Up Your Room
Please have student desks clear before the program begins. Please provide an empty desk or small table for the museum educator to set up display items. Your educator will need access to an outlet and a blank wall to project the power point presentation onto. We are also able to use existing classroom equipment if available. If booking multiple programs, transitions will be easier if museum staff sets up in only one location. Introduce the vocabulary and additional resources provided below.
Vocabulary abiotic- the non-living resources within an ecosystem. Includes light, water, weather, soil, minerals, etc. biotic - the living resources within an ecosystem. Plants, animals, fungi, etc. biomass – total amount of material making up the organisms in one segment of a food chain carnivore – an animal that eats only meat consumer – an organism that must eat other living things to survive primary consumer – animals that eat only producers (plants); herbivores secondary consumer – animals that eat primary consumers tertiary consumer – animals that eat secondary consumers quaternary consumer – animals that eat tertiary consumers decomposer – an organism that uses dead material as an energy source ecosystem – the members of an ecological community and their interactions with each other and the environment
energy - the processes that keep the ecosystem going through sunlight and chemical transfers between the living and non-living parts of the system food chain – a single-•line example of how nutrients and energy flow from one organism to another food web – a web-•like illustration of how nutrients and energy can flow through an ecosystem habitat -- the place in which plants and animals get their resources (water, shelter, sunlight, nutrients, etc) in order to live herbivore – an animal that eats only plant material omnivore – an animal that will eat both plants and animals population – the entire number of one type of organism within a particular location predator - animals that actively hunt other animals for food prey - the predator’s food producer – an organism that can use sunlight as an energy source (plants)
Extension Activities Check out museum science: The attached article, “The Science of Watching Birds,” is based on a research report by CMNH ornithologist, Tom Bartlett. Follow along on Tom’s bird banding project to learn how the birds reveal the biodiversity of a habitat and how scientists work together to track migration routes. Along the way, students will encounter standards-based content (see key words below) and practice navigating common informational text features such as sub-headings, glossaries, maps, charts and images. Did Tom’s work inspire more questions? The article also includes suggested ways to keep your class involved in current science.
1. What’s for Dinner? Have students create a diagram or visual aid that illustrates their place in the food web. Tell students to choose a meal they’ve eaten recently and follow each food item consumed in that meal back to its energy origin (the sun). For example, a cheeseburger could be diagrammed as follows: Hamburger: humancowgrasssun Bun: humanwheatsun Cheese: humancowgrasssun Pickle: humancucumbersun
Remember that with each link in the chain, some energy is lost. It is more efficient to eat items whose chains have fewer links. By eating some kinds of animals, such as a tuna, we create a chain with five or more links (humantuna fishsquidshrimp planktonsun). By choosing to get more of our food energy from producers, we can reduce our impact on the environment!
2. Who Lives in My Backyard? Have students observe the flora and fauna in their area and make a list of the living organisms they see. To warm up the students’ observational skills, you may want to take them on a short nature hike around the school grounds. If the weather is not conducive to going outdoors, students can watch through a window for birds, squirrels and other common animals. Don’t forget about plants and insects – they are an important part of the food chain too! Students with digital cameras could try to photograph the organisms, as well. After students have created their lists, have students work in groups as described below to create paper food chains. 1. Split students into groups of four or five. Within each groups, there needs to be a designated group leader in charge of keeping group mates on task, a fact-•checker with access to a computer or encyclopedia, and two or three craftsmen who create the links and put them together. 2. Have students write the names (or draw pictures) of each organism on their lists onto strips of paper. Then, after learning how each organism survives, create chains linking every organism to another organism that depends on it for food. 3. Groups that have too many of one type of organism and not enough of another may wish to trade with another group to get the type of organism they need. Allow students to barter with neighboring groups until most of the organisms from the students’ lists are a part of a valid food chain. Continue to create links in each chain until you get to an animal that is not eaten by any other animals (the dominant species). How many links can you create in the chain? Have groups compete to see who can create the longest chain. To make the project more challenging, students can create food webs instead of chains, linking each animal to several food sources instead of just one. Students may wish to link the organisms in their food chains to organisms in other groups’ chains to create the web. This helps illustrate the complexity of energy flow in an ecosystem. When the project is complete, the food chains or webs can be hung from the ceiling of the classroom as a visual reminder that all organisms, including humans are connected.
3. Interdisciplinary Connections: Math – have students create “food chain brainteasers”. Use the problem below as an example. For more fun, have students pair up and try to solve their partner’s brainteaser! Example: Farmer John has a large farm. He grows corn, wheat and hay. Unfortunately, he has many rodents (mice and rats) eating his crops. He wants to get some cats to eat the rodents, but he doesn’t want to have too many cats. Using the information below, figure out how many cats Farmer John needs to keep the rodent population under control. Right now, Farmer John estimates he has 100 rodents on his farm The number of rodents grows by about 10 rodents/day Each cat can catch 5 rodents/day but only needs to eat 3 rodents/day to survive
What is the least number of cats Farmer John needs to keep the rodent population under control? He wants enough cats to bring the rodent population down to fewer than 30, but not so many cats that he’ll need to start feeding them cat food to keep them alive! Note: These cats have been fixed so they won’t have kittens!
4. Corn Collection Chaos Materials Needed: Small paper bags Popcorn kernels (or any other small items that can be easily scattered and then gathered by students; dry dog food pellets, cotton balls, mini- marshmallows—whatever you want to use!) Permanent marker pencils or pens for all students In this game, students will learn about reduction of biomass as energy moves through the food chain. Students will also see what happens to animals in the food chain when a primary food source is eliminated due to human actions.
Set up: Assign about 70% of the students in the class to be insects, 20% to be shrews and 10% to be hawks. Distribute a paper bag to each student who will be an insect. Scatter the corn kernels on the floor. These kernels represent the energy of your food chain, starting as plants that the insects are about to eat. The timing of rounds and numbers of corn kernels can be adjusted for the size of your class.
Round 1 1. The students who are insects collect as many kernels as they can in 20 seconds. The students then return to their seats and count their kernels, writing the total on their bags. Insects who have not collected 20 kernels have died from starvation. Those students are out of the game for this round.
2. The remaining insects stand in the middle of the room with their bags. Have these students throw 3 kernels back on the floor to represent the energy they are using to stay alive. This energy is not available to the predators who will hunt them. Now tell the students who are shrews to find and ‘eat’ as many insects as they can in 20 seconds. When an insect is tapped on the shoulder, they must give the shrew their bag and go sit down. After 20 seconds, everyone sits down and the shrews add up the total number of kernels they collected (they should be able to add up the numbers on the bags previously added up by the insects). Shrews who have not collected at least 60 kernels die of starvation. They are out for the rest of the round.
3. The remaining shrews stand in the center of the room with their bags and toss 6 kernels on the floor to represent spent energy. Students who are hawks have 20 seconds to eat as many shrews as they can. After 20 seconds, everyone sits down and the hawks total up their kernels. Hawks who have not collected at least 100 kernels die from starvation.
When this round is over, talk about the distribution of biomass within the food chain; there needs to be more producers than primary consumers, more primary consumers than secondary consumers, etc. The idea that foods further up the food chain are generally a more condensed form of energy (have more calories per gram) can also be discussed. Make sure students understand that it takes more energy to keep a secondary consumer alive than a primary consumer.
Round 2 This round works the same way as the last round, except in this case a shopping mall has been built near the woodland area where the animals live. Many of the wildflowers that the insects depended on for food have been paved over. Reduce the number of kernels scattered on the floor by 25% and play the rest of the game as before. Ask students how the reduction of plant material to feed the insects has impacted the number of shrews and hawks in the area. Stress how everything in the food chain, including us, is impacted when a primary food source is taken away.
Follow-up - Bioaccumulation Background - Pesticides that are sprayed on plants and then eaten by primary consumers (herbivores) become concentrated as they move up the food chain. A plant sprayed with pesticide may only have a concentration of that chemical of 1 part per million (ppm) within its seeds. If a mouse eats many seeds from that plant, it may end up with a pesticide concentration of 10 ppm in its tissues. A hawk that eats many mice over the course of a summer could build up an accumulation of 100 ppm. While the mouse may not show ill effects from 10 ppm of the chemical, the hawk is much more likely to suffer ill effects from 100 ppm. This is what happened with the chemical DDT that was sprayed to control mosquitoes in the 1960s. Birds of prey who ate the animals that ate the contaminated insects could not produce normal eggs and the bird populations plunged. Simulate the above scenario in the corn kernel game using the permanent marker to make a dot on about 1/5 of your kernels. These will represent plants contaminated with a toxic chemical such as a pesticide or a heavy metal. Spread the kernels as before, but after the first round, have students note how many “contaminated” kernels their animal ate and the ratio of ‘contaminated’ kernels to safe kernels. Before the second round, have students dump 3 unmarked kernels on the floor to represent energy used by life functions. Then play the second round as before. After the 2nd round, again have the students total their kernels and note the ratio of ‘contaminated’ to safe kernels. Have students dump 6 unmarked kernels and play the third round. After this round, it should be evident that there are relatively more toxic and fewer safe kernels. As the toxic chemicals are concentrated in the secondary and tertiary consumers, there is a greater likelihood of ill effects from these chemicals. This is why larger predators are often most affected by pollution.
Online Resources for Teachers and Students
Click the link below to find additional online resources for teachers and students. These websites are recommended by our Museum Educators and provide additional content information and some fun, interactive activities to share with your class.
CMNH Educators regularly review these links for quality. Web addresses often change so please notify us if any links have issues.
Cleveland Museum of Natural History https://cmnh.org/edlinks
Educator Resource Center (ERC)
Materials for Loan If you’re interested in additional resources be sure to check out the following ERC materials or browse ERC materials online at The Educator Resource Center offers http://l4u.cmnh.org educator workshops, thematic teaching kits,
animal dioramas, and more for loan to area Related ERC kits for this topic include: teachers.
How does an Ecosystem work? Learn about Contact the ERC at 216-231-2075 for predators/prey, food chains and webs, information on individual or school adaptations, succession, populations, factors membership. for habitat and biomes. This kit features nearly
100 real plant and animal specimens in jars. Visit the Museum’s ERC website for
more information on workshops Life Cycles of Animals: Investigate animal life https://www.cmnh.org/ERC cycles through big books, puzzles, games,
plastic specimens, and stamping sets. Hours o Monday, 2 to 5 PM Animal Beaks and Teeth: Explore how animals o Wednesday, 2 to 6 PM seek and eat food using teeth and beaks, o Friday, 2 to 5 PM games, books, and other assorted specimens. o Saturday, 9 AM to 1 PM o Closed Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday
The Science of Watching Birds
Adapted from Tom Bartlett’s 2015 research report: Kelleys Island, Ohio, Bird Banding – Avian Research Project
Do you ever wonder where birds are going? If so, you are thinking like a scientist!
Meet the Scientist
Tom Bartlett is an ornithologist. He studies birds for the
Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Every year, Tom
goes to Kelleys Island, Ohio with a team of scientists
from the museum and the local Audubon club. They have
been watching birds at Kelleys Island for 20 years!
Tom asks a lot of questions. He wants to know:
Image provided by Tom Bartlett. • How many types of birds visit Kelleys Island?
• Where do the birds go? Tom and a Northern Saw-whet owl • Do the same birds ever come back? How do you think Tom finds the answers to his questions? Experiment Steps Tom’s tool for studying birds is called bird banding. Each captured bird gets a band with a special number. Tom records the number and notes about the bird so the next ornithologist who finds it can learn where it came from.
A Northern Saw-whet owl caught in a net
How it’s done: 1) Hang a big net between the poles. 2) Wait for a bird to get stuck in the net. Putting a metal band on the owl’s leg 3) Carefully get the bird out of the net. Ornithologist: (or-ni-thol-o-gist) 4) Put a metal band around the bird’s leg. A scientist who studies birds 5) Release the bird so another scientist can find it. Bird Banding: One way scientists track birds.
How many types of birds visit Kelleys Island?
A bird needs a healthy habitat to find food, water, and shelter. The more types of birds Tom and his team find means the healthier the habitat is.
In 2015, Tom found 67 different species of birds. That means 67 different types of birds were banded on Kelleys Island. Ornithologists call the number of different species living in one area biodiversity. Even though 67 sounds like a lot, this is less biodiversity than last year. Tom thinks one species, the Coopers Hawk, might have scared some of the others away.
Coopers Hawk The Coopers Hawk is a carnivore. Coopers Hawks like to eat small rodents Image from allaboutbirds.org and other birds. This is the first year in a long time Tom has seen a Coopers Hawk near his project.
Do you agree that other birds might hide from the Coopers Hawk ? Why or why not?
You Try!
Use Tom’s data to answer the questions below.
Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Number of Species 68 73 71 78 67
1. How many types of birds did Tom find on Kelleys Island in 2015? ______
2. Which year did Tom find the most biodiversity on Kelleys Island?______
Habitat: (hab-i-tat) A place with food, water and shelter for a plant or animal to live
Biodiversity: (bio-di-ver-si-ty) The number of different species living in one area
Species: (spe-cies) A certain type of plant or animal Carnivore: (car-ni-vore) An animal that only eats meat
Where do the birds go?
Bird banding helps scientists learn about migration,
but only if they work together. At the end of October,
Tom caught a Northern Saw-whet Owl who already
had a band on its leg. The band was not from Tom’s
team. A different ornithologist in Northern Michigan
had already caught this bird in September, just one
month before. Tom found the bird in Ohio.
Recapturing birds teach scientists where they go.
Scientists observing a Northern Saw-whet owl’s eye color • START You Try!
1. Draw a line from Northern Michigan to Ohio on the map.
2. What direction did the Northern Saw-whet owl fly? ______• FINISH
3. Does Tom’s data support what scientists say (below)? ______
Scientists Say: Northern Saw-whet Owls like cold weather. They can
live in northern areas year round, but wait until winter to fly south. Google maps 2015
How do ornithologists work together to track bird migration?
Do the same birds ever come back?
Tom learned that some of the birds he caught this year have been
to Kelleys Island before. One Baltimore Oriole already had a
band from Tom’s team around his leg. First, Tom read the Baltimore
Oriole number on the band. Then, he checked his notes. Tom learned
that he caught the same Baltimore Oriole on Kelleys Island four
years ago! Some birds like the Baltimore Oriole return to the
same place every year to make their nest and lay eggs.
Image provided by Tom Bartlett. Migration: (mi-gra-tion) The path an animal moves when the seasons change.
Over the past 20 years, Tom and his team banded a total of 9,241 birds on Kelleys Island.
The team works hard to identify the birds and
track where they go. Studying birds teaches
them about biodiversity and migration, but
there is still more to learn. If you have
questions like Tom does, check out how you
can get involved.
Image from Kelley Island Nature.com
Kids carefully touch a bird before Tom releases it.
Learn More: Learn more about birds with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. You can visit our gallery of Ohio Birds , ask your teacher to check out bird teaching tools from our Educator Resource Center, or check in on our Ornithology department to see what else is being discovered. Visit www.cmnh.org to learn more.
See the Experts in Action:
Visit Kelleys Island to see bird banding in action.
Visit www.kelleysislandnature.com to see what events are coming up next.
Don’t forget about your local nature center or Audubon Club – they may offer events too!
Try it Out: Observe the birds in your neighborhood! Citizen Science programs like Celebrate Urban Birds need your help. Work as part of a team to record which birds visit your neighborhood. You can even download free guides to help you identify your new feathered friends.
Visit www.celebrateurbanbirds.org to learn more.
References Cited
Bartlett, T. (2015). Kelleys Island, Ohio Bird Banding- Avian Research Project 2015 Summary of Data
Cornell University (2015). All About Birds Bird Guide. Retrieved from www.allaboutbirds.org
Kelleys Island Audubon (2015). Island Birding. Retrieved from www.kelleysislandsaudubon.com