Investigating Marine Ecosystems

Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems

Let’s learn about feeding behaviours and relationships in the marine environment

CURRICULUM LINKS

Learning areas Learning intention Success criteria

Science: Levels 1–4: Students are learning to: Students can: Living world: Life processes Understand how different animals Describe feeding behaviours and

Planet Earth and Beyond: Earth feed and how they interact with relationships through constructing systems each other. a food web.

Nature of Science: Investigating in science, Communicating in science Science capabilities: Interpret representations, Engage with science English: Listening, Reading, and Viewing: Ideas Te Marautanga o Aotearoa: Pūtaiao: The natural world CONTENTS

BACKGROUND NOTES Introducing Marine ecosystems �� 3 What is a marine ecosystem? �� 3 The transfer of energy �� 3 What are producers and consumers? �� 3 What is a food chain? �� 5 What is a food web? �� 5 What is a feeding behaviour? �� 5 Is feeding the only way living things interact in an ecosystem? �� 5

LEARNING EXPERIENCE 4: INVESTIGATING MARINE ECOSYSTEMS Introducing types of feeding behaviours �� 6 Feeding behaviour: Integrated literacy sheets �� 7 Food chains �� 7

Reflecting on learning �� 8 Food webs �� 8

Extending learning �� 9

Other resources about feeding behaviours and ecosystems �� 9

Feeding behaviour: integrated literacy sheets ��10

STUDENT WORKSHEET Food web diagram �� 17

Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems 2 PROTECTING OUR MARINE WORLD BACKGROUND NOTES

Note: The activity is based around a food web for a nearshore coastal environment, specifically rocky reefs. There are different food webs in different habitats (see Other resources page 9).

INTRODUCING MARINE ECOSYSTEMS What is a marine ecosystem? An ecosystem is a group of living things which interact with each other and the environment. A marine ecosystem is all of the living and non-living things in an ocean environment interacting with each other and the physical world. The living things in the ecosystem interact through behaviours such as feeding and moving.

The transfer of energy Energy from the sun is captured by producers such as seaweeds and then passed about in the food chain. Some energy is lost in the process.

What are producers and consumers? Coastal plants, seaweeds and phytoplankton produce their own food using the sun’s energy: they are known as producers. Animals need to consume food to survive, therefore they are known as consumers. Plants and animals are connected in the ways they gain energy and feed.

Vocabulary Definition

Producer A living thing that can make its own food using the sun’s energy and a process called photosynthesis, e.g. bull kelp, seagrass.

Consumer A living thing that eats other living things to survive. Some eat plants (herbivores), some eat other animals (carnivores), and others will eat both (omnivores).

Types of producers

Neptune’s A producer, Neptune’s necklace is a seaweed that necklace makes its own food using the sun’s energy in a process called photosynthesis.

Photo: Maomao, NatureWatch NZ (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Phytoplankton The major primary producers in the marine ecosystem, phytoplankton harvest sunlight through photosynthesis and store it as chemical energy.

Photo: NOAA MESA Project (Wikimedia Commons)

Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems 3 PROTECTING OUR MARINE WORLD Types of consumers

Filter feeder A type of consumer that filters water to get tiny living things (such as plankton) to eat, e.g. barnacles.

Photo: Katy Johns, NatureWatch (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Grazer A type of herbivore that scrapes plant matter and other small living things from the rocks to eat, e.g. kina.

Photo: Lisa Bennett, NatureWatch NZ (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Browser A type of herbivore that eats some/certain producers, such as seaweeds, e.g. butterfish.

Photo: © Brian Mackie

Predator A type of carnivore or omnivore that hunts to find food and eats other consumers, e.g. snapper.

Photo: Danica Stent

Scavenger A type of consumer that feeds on the dead remains of living things, e.g. mud whelk.

Photo: Lisa Bennett, NatureWatch NZ (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Decomposer Decomposers, e.g. fungi, bacteria and some invertebrates, feed on waste from living things and also break down their dead remains. This returns nutrients back into the ecosystem. Photo: NIWA

Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems 4 PROTECTING OUR MARINE WORLD What is a food chain? A food chain shows the flow of energy in what living things eat. A food chain always starts with a producer and then shows the consumer, usually a herbivore species, that eats the producer, and then the carnivore species that eats that herbivore species, and so on until you reach the top predator. A top predator is a species that is not eaten by any other species. Example marine food chain in the subtidal zone:

Sun Phytoplankton Barnacles Fish Sharks

What is a food web? A food web is a more complex diagram showing the feeding relationships of living things in a particular habitat. It is made up of many food chains that are interlinked.

What is a feeding behaviour? A feeding behaviour is how a living thing eats and what it eats.

Is feeding the only way living things interact in an ecosystem? Living things interact in a variety of ways in ecosystems. For example, they compete for resources like light and space. Some animals may use other animals for habitat, or share their habitat with other living things. Animals may have special relationships, for example some shrimp and pilot fish clean the teeth of larger fish and sharks. Both animals benefit from the relationship: the shark/fish gets clean teeth and the shrimp/pilot fish gets food.

Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems 5 PROTECTING OUR MARINE WORLD LEARNING EXPERIENCE 4: INVESTIGATING MARINE ECOSYSTEMS

Resources for this activity Focus question: What do animals eat in Feeding behaviour integrated literacy sheets: a marine rocky shore ▫▫ Producer – Neptune’s necklace (seaweed) ( page 10) environment? How do ▫▫ Producer – Phytoplankton ( page 11) they eat? ▫▫ Consumers – Filter feeders: barnacle and oyster ( page 12) ▫▫ Consumers – Grazers: limpets and kina ( page 13) ▫▫ Consumer – Browser: butterfish ( page 14) ▫▫ Consumers – Predators: Oyster borers, crayfish/lobster, sting rays, snapper, orca ( page 15) ▫▫ Consumers – Scavengers and decomposers: cushion star, mud whelk ( page 16)

Young Ocean Explorers: What is a food chain? Video clip (01:17 min): http://www.youngoceanexplorers.com/yoe/ video/220259834183#cplayer.

Science Learning Hub’s Marine food webs resource: https:// www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/143-marine-food-webs.

‘Who’s eating who?’ by Bronwen Wall, Connected, level 4, 2012. Article on Antarctica food webs: http://literacyonline. tki.org.nz/content/download/23432/262796/file/ Who%5C%27s+Eating+Who+Connected+4+TSM.pdf

Vocabulary

Food chain, food web, scavenger, grazer, predator, producer, consumer, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, filter feeder, fungi, bacteria, decomposers, algae, plankton, phytoplankton, zooplankton, seaweed.

Inquiry stages 3: Investigate, 4: Extending thinking

INTRODUCING TYPES OF FEEDING BEHAVIOURS Note: These are suggestions only, teachers are encouraged to adapt and change material to suit their students. ▪▪ Introduce the three main types of feeding behaviours: producer, consumer and decomposer (see Background notes). ▪▪ Then discuss the different types of consumers: .e g. predators, scavengers, grazers and browsers, using the table on page 4.

Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems 6 PROTECTING OUR MARINE WORLD ▪▪ Try this Socrative quiz to encourage learning about producers, decomposers and types of consumers: https://b.socrative.com/teacher/#import-quiz/30468393. Join Socrative at https://www.socrative.com and then add the quiz to your list. Use the following to investigate and extend thinking in your inquiry.

Feeding behaviour: Integrated literacy sheets ▪▪ Students can read through the following integrated reading/literacy sheets individually, in pairs or in groups, to find out more about feeding behaviours of different living things within marine reserves. See the Feeding behaviour integrated literacy sheets on pages 10–16. ▪▪ After reading the information sheets, students summarise their findings and share their information with the other groups. This could be through a presentation or a jigsaw/4 stray, one stay teaching strategy (see Teaching strategies on page 33 in the Appendices). ▪▪ You could also use a digital tool to record and sort information, such as: https://padlet.com, www.wordclouds.com, or www.symbaloo.com.

Food chains ▪▪ Introduce students to the concept of food chains (see Background notes, pages 3–4). ▪▪ Watch the What is a food chain video by Young Ocean Explorers to learn about food chains: https://www.youngoceanexplorers.com/yoe/video/220259834183#cplayer. This food chain is from a rocky reef. Food chains from different habitats can look very different, according to which species are present.

▪▪ Ask students to construct their own marine food chains and food webs using the information in the Feeding behaviour Integrated literacy sheets on pages 10–16.

Consumer: Consumers: Browser Grazers Eat (browse) Feeding behaviour: integrated literacy sheet Consumer: FeedingScrape behaviour: their integrated literacy sheet seaweeds Filter feeder food off the FeedingConsumers: behaviour: integrated literacy sheet Filter their rocks Predators Hunt and eat Feedingfood from behaviour: integrated literacy sheet other animals water Butterfish Consumers: Producer ScavengersFeeding behaviour: integrated literacy sheet Makes it Limpets and kina What is a butterfish? Feed on dead own food What are oysters and barnacles? A butterfish is a type Anusof fish that eats mostly Oyster borers, crayfish/lobster,remains Oysters and barnaclesMost of theAn oysterrocky is shore a shellfish. is covered It is called a brown seaweeds. in a layerbivalve of algae, because that it ishas hard two shells. to sting rays, snapper, orca What is plankton? Habitat: Tube feet pass food to Feeding behaviour: integrated literacy sheet see. Limpets use radulas (a tongue the mouth and also There are three main types of plankton: plant A barnacle is an animal that lives on Butterfishthe live in the subtidal zone of the rocky help the kinaSmall move predators Cushion stars and mud whelksFeeding behaviour: integrated literacy sheet Sea water isplankton, filled animal with planktonplankton: and anbacteria. on their foot!)rocks andto scrape has a trap algae door onoff top the that shore. it Small predators like oyster borers eat barnacles, chitons, limpets and excellent foodPhytoplankton source for is plant filter plankton. feeding Zooplankton shuts and opens. Phytoplankton rocks. The radula has lots of rows of What eats butterfish? oysters. Scavengers feed on the dead remains of animals. They are is animal plankton and is not a producer. specialists at finding and eating rotting food. animals. Filter feeders have adaptedtiny to teeth. HabitatTeeth on their tongue! Butterfish are eaten by larger fish-eating fish, Large predators Sea water may look clear and transparent,be able to filterHabitat out plankton from the Oysters and barnacles live on thesharks rocky and possibly New Zealand fur seals. Large predators, like crayfish/lobster, snapper andWhat stingrays, is a cushion eat star? Producer water with their body parts. Examples of shore, attached to the rocks. They can also smaller predators/consumers. Crayfish but it isWhat filled is Neptune’s with many necklace? different types Plankton float freely in the water. They are Intestines A cushion star is a type of sea not attached to any one habitat and can movelive on artificial surfaces like wharves. to fish – they are not fussy eaters!Stingrays andstar snapper that has eat five kina, arms and looks Makes it of plankton!It’s actually Plankton a seaweed. is It lighter is also known thanfilter feeders are oysters, other shellfish,What are limpets and sea urchin/kina? Muscles that shellfish and smaller fish. spongy like a cushion. as a brown alga, but it can be orange or between habitats and float with the currents. Teeth own food sea water and can stay near the surface.tubeworms, sponges and barnacles.A limpet is a smallWhat snail-like eats oysters/barnacles? animal that lives move the teeth Habitat Top (apex) predators Phytoplanktongreen coloured. can make food fromOysters the filterWhat the eatssalt plankton?water throughin a their shell. Oyster borers (another type of shellfish) What is a mud whelk? Limpets and kina live on the rocky shore.Orca A mud whelk is a type of sea snail Filter feeders such as barnacles,A kina tubeworms is a type and of sea some urchin shorebirds that is green eat oysters and and eat anything from algae sun’s lightHabitat energy by a process calledgills, inside their two shells. The gills suck Limpets can survive in the intertidal zone.foods, includingare top predators stingrays, because New Zealand nothing fur eats seals,that them! has fish Theya spiral-shapedand eat squid. a range shell. of Habitat and sponges eat plankton. spiky.Zooplankton It is related alsobarnacles. to sea stars. photosynthesis.Neptune’s When necklace they grows do in clumpsthisthe they water on inside and absorb the food. Kina live in the subtidal zone. Mud whelks have a siphon (tube) These animals both live in the

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Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems INVESTIGATING MARINE RESERVES 10

Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems 7 PROTECTING OUR MARINE WORLD REFLECTING ON LEARNING Food webs ▪▪ Students could construct a possible marine reserve food web, to show their understandings of feeding relationships. An example is given below. A blank version of this food web for students to complete, Student worksheet: Food web diagram, is available on page 17.

Subtidal food web example

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Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems 8 PROTECTING OUR MARINE WORLD EXTENDING LEARNING ▪▪ Construct a food web for ecosystems in the Ross Sea in Antarctica using the Science Learning Hub’s resources: https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/ resources/1526-making-a-food-web. ▪▪ Learn more about how our understandings of food webs have changed over the years and about trophic levels: https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/143-marine-food-webs. ▪▪ What happens when people take predators out of the food chain? Watch this Young Ocean Explorers video about kina barrens: Where did all the kelp go? (02:06 min) http://www.youngoceanexplorers.com/yoe/video/220259837417#cplayer.

OTHER RESOURCES ABOUT FEEDING BEHAVIOURS AND ECOSYSTEMS ▪▪ For more food web information and activities, see The rocky shore who eats who? colouring book by New Zealand Marine Studies Centre: http://www.otago.ac.nz/marine-studies/ resources/download/otago062864.pdf. ▪▪ Learn more about apex/top predators of the food web/food chain in this Young Ocean Explorer quiz What is an apex predator? (01:30 min) https://www.youngoceanexplorers. com/yoe/video/232307003474#cplayer.

Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems 9 PROTECTING OUR MARINE WORLD Producer Feeding behaviour: integrated literacy sheet Makes it own food

What is Neptune’s necklace? Neptune’s necklace It’s actually a seaweed. It is also known as a brown alga, but it can be orange or Hormosira banksii green coloured.

Habitat All seaweeds, including Neptune’s Neptune’s necklace grows in clumps on necklace, kelp and flapjack, make their rocky reefs. It often covers large areas. own food. They are called producers. What eats Neptune’s necklace? Algae (another name for seaweed) can Browsers and grazers such as fish, kina, make food from the sun’s light energy by snails and crabs eat Neptune’s necklace a process called photosynthesis. and other seaweeds.

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Did you know... Neptune’s necklace is a seaweed shaped like a bead necklace!

Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems 10 PROTECTING OUR MARINE WORLD Producer Feeding behaviour: integrated literacy sheet Makes it own food

What is plankton? Phytoplankton There are three main types of plankton: plant plankton, animal plankton and bacteria. Sea water may look clear and transparent, Phytoplankton is plant plankton. Zooplankton but it is filled with many different types is animal plankton and is not a producer. of plankton! Plankton is lighter than Habitat sea water and can stay near the surface. Plankton float freely in the water. They are Phytoplankton can make food from the not attached to any one habitat and can move sun’s light energy by a process called between habitats and float with the currents. photosynthesis. When they do this they What eats plankton? produce oxygen that we breathe! Filter feeders such as barnacles, tubeworms and sponges eat plankton. Zooplankton also eat phytoplankton.

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Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems 11 PROTECTING OUR MARINE WORLD Consumer: Filter feeder Feeding behaviour: integrated literacy sheet Filter their food from water

What are oysters and barnacles? Oysters and barnacles An oyster is a shellfish. It is called a bivalve because it has two shells. Sea water is filled with plankton: an excellent food source for filter feeding A barnacle is an animal that lives on the rocks and has a trap door on top that it animals. Filter feeders have adapted to shuts and opens. be able to filter out plankton from the water with their body parts. Examples of Habitat filter feeders are oysters, other shellfish, Oysters and barnacles live on the rocky shore, attached to the rocks. They can also tubeworms, sponges and barnacles. live on artificial surfaces like wharves. Oysters filter the salt water through their What eats oysters/barnacles? gills, inside their two shells. The gills suck Oyster borers (another type of shellfish) the water inside and absorb the food. and some shorebirds eat oysters and barnacles.

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Did you know... Oysters and barnacles can’t move so they like Photo: David Monniaux; modified by Peter Gugerell to live in faster currents (CC BY-SA 2.0 FR) as then more food comes their way! Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems 12 PROTECTING OUR MARINE WORLD Consumers: Grazers Feeding behaviour: integrated literacy sheet Scrape their food off the rocks

Limpets and kina Anus Tube feet pass food to the mouth and also Most of the rocky shore is covered help the kina move in a layer of algae, that is hard to see. Limpets use radulas (a tongue on their foot!) to scrape algae off the rocks. The radula has lots of rows of tiny teeth. Teeth on their tongue! Intestines

Muscles that Teeth move the teeth What are limpets and sea urchin/kina? Habitat A limpet is a small snail-like animal that lives Limpets and kina live on the rocky shore. in a shell. Limpets can survive in the intertidal zone. A kina is a type of sea urchin that is green and Kina live in the subtidal zone. spiky. It is related to sea stars. What eats limpets and kina? How does a kina feed? Predators such as fish and crayfish eat limpets A kina/sea urchin also feeds by grazing. and kina. Instead of a radula, a kina has a grinding mill (see diagram on right).

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Did you know... A kina eats using a grinding mill inside it which breaks up its food! Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems 13 PROTECTING OUR MARINE WORLD Consumer: Feeding behaviour: integrated literacy sheet Browser Eat (browse) seaweeds

Butterfish

What is a butterfish? A butterfish is a type of fish that eats mostly brown seaweeds. Habitat: Butterfish live in the subtidal zone of the rocky shore. What eats butterfish? Butterfish are eaten by larger fish-eating fish, sharks and possibly New Zealand fur seals.

Did you know... Grazers and browsers are herbivores: they do not eat other animals. Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems 14 PROTECTING OUR MARINE WORLD Consumers: Feeding behaviour: integrated literacy sheet Predators Hunt and eat other animals

Oyster borers, crayfish/lobster, stingrays, snapper, orca

Small predators Small predators like oyster borers eat barnacles, chitons, limpets and oysters. Large predators

Large predators, like crayfish/lobster, snapper and stingrays, eat C smaller predators/consumers. Crayfish eat anything from algae r a to fish – they are not fussy eaters!Stingrays and snapper eat kina, y f shellfish and smaller fish. i sh Top (apex) predators . Ph ot nt Orca are top predators because nothing eats them! They eat a range of o: Danica Ste foods, including stingrays, New Zealand fur seals, fish and squid. Other predators Other predators include octopus, sharks, and shorebirds. Birds like the oystercatcher feed on shellfish like mussels and tuatua.

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Cushion stars and mud whelks Scavengers feed on the dead remains of animals. They are specialists at finding and eating rotting food.

What is a cushion star? Habitat A cushion star is a type of sea These animals both live in the Consumers: star that has five arms and looks intertidal zone of the rocky shore. decomposers spongy like a cushion. Decomposers, such as What eats sea stars and fungi, some invertebrates What is a mud whelk? whelks? and bacteria, break down A mud whelk is a type of sea snail Predators, such as fish and waste and remains and that has a spiral-shaped shell. shorebirds, eat these animals. Mud whelks have a siphon (tube) recycle these back into the at the back of their shell to help Other scavengers ecosystem. them smell and find food. Hermit crabs, gulls and some worms are also scavengers.

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Activity 4: Investigating marine ecosystems 16 PROTECTING OUR MARINE WORLD Student worksheet

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