Food Log
Name:
Date:
Food
Trophic level
Carrots
Producer
Chicken
Primary
consumer
Processed
Doritos
Number of
servings
1
Calories per
serving
50
Calories
consumed
50
1.5
200
300
2
140
280
Food
Trophic level
Number of
servings
Calories per
serving
Calories
consumed
Food Analysis Lab
Introduction
All of the energy that you use to run, play, think, and stay warm comes from the
food that you eat. All of the energy in your food comes from the sun. First, plants
convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy. When animals (including you!)
eat plants, they can use this chemical energy. Animals can also get energy from eating
other animals, although much of the original energy from the sun has already been used
up by the animal which is eaten.
Research Question
Where does your food come from in nature? How much energy do you get from
your food in one day?
Vocabulary
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•
•
•
•
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Trophic level
Producer
Consumer
Herbivore
Carnivore
Omnivore
Processed food
Materials
•
•
Food log
Your body!
Pre-lab Questions
All of the energy used by plants and animals comes
from the sun!
1. What is a producer? List some examples of producers that you consume in your
diet.
2. What is a consumer? List some examples of consumers in your diet.
3. What is a processed food? List some examples of processed foods in your diet?
4. Record your food consumption for one 24 hour period in the food log.
Data Analysis
1. Sort your foods into the chart below and add the number of calories consumed
for each food type:
Producers
Food
Calories
Consumers
Food
Calories
Processed
Food
Calories
Total:
Total:
Total:
2. How many total calories did you consume?
3. What percentage of your calories came from each food type?
Producers:
Consumers:
Processed:
4. Make a pie chart below to show the percentage of calories consumed from each
food type (the solid lines represent 10% and the dashed lines represent 5%):
Conclusions
1. What type of food did you get the least energy from? The most energy?
2. What trophic level (producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer) do you fit
into? How do you know?
Food Production Energy Analysis Lab
Introduction
As you learned in the diet and energy analysis labs, all of the energy that you use
to run, play, think, and stay warm comes from the food that you eat. However,
producing the same amount of usable energy in different foods requires different energy
inputs. Put another way, it is much more energy efficient to eat some foods (like
vegetables) than other foods (like meats and processed foods). These differences are
caused by the differences in trophic levels and the energy used to process foods.
Research Question
How much energy does it take to produce your food?
Vocabulary
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Trophic level
Producer
Consumer
Herbivore
Carnivore
Omnivore
Processed food
Materials
•
Diet analysis lab
Pre-lab Questions
Foods from different trophic levels require different
amounts of energy to produce.
1. What are the three major food types in your diet, based on your diet analysis lab?
2. Which food type do you think requires the least energy to produce? Why?
3. Which food type do you think requires the most energy to produce? Why?
Data Analysis
1. How many calories did you eat from each food type? (use your diet analysis lab!)
Food type
Calories Eaten
Producers
Consumers
Processed
2. Let’s analyze the amount of energy required to produce the food that you
consumed. For the producers, 100 percent of the light energy captured by the
producer is available for use in your body. Calculate how much energy was used
to make the food that you ate from producers:
3. Consumers use energy to maintain homeostasis and when they move, so only
10% of the original energy is available for use in your body. Calculate the amount
of energy required to produce the food you consumed from other consumers:
4. Processed foods also require more energy to produce than plants because it
takes energy to process the food. Processing can include cooking, drying,
mixing, and fermenting. The amount of extra energy used in processing is
different for every food. However, we will make it simple by assuming that 25% of
the original energy in processed food can be used in your body. Calculate the
amount of energy required to produce the processed food that you ate:
5. How much energy did it take to produce the energy in the food you ate?
Food Type
Calories Used to Produce Food
Producers (question 2)
Consumers (question 3)
Processed (question 4)
Total
6. What percentage of the energy used to produce your food was used to produce
each type of food?
Producers (%):
Consumers (%):
Processed (%):
7. Make a pie graph showing the energy used to produce the food that you ate:
Conclusions
1. Which type of food in your diet required the least amount of energy to produce?
The most energy?
2. What type of animal (herbivore, carnivore, omnivore) uses the least amount of
energy? Why?
3. How could you change your diet to reduce energy consumption? How does
reducing energy consumption help the environment?