Name: ________________________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: __________
Ecology: Design Your Own Food Web
Directions: Using pencil draw and number at least 12 arrows to the blank food web, showing the direction
energy travels in a community of species. Use the following to aid in the construction of your food web:
Wolves feed on deer and rabbits.
Sparrows only eat plants and insects.
Hawks feed on rabbits, sparrows, and snakes.
Deer, rabbits, and caterpillars are all herbivores.
Snakes feed on sparrows, frogs, and rabbits.
Frogs feed on insects.
Hawk
Wolf
Sparrow
(small bird)
Rabbit
Snake
Frog
Deer
Caterpillar
Grass
Directions: Using the food web you created answer the following questions.
1. Which organism is the producer? How do you know it’s a producer?
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2. Examine your food web. Which organism would be considered a specialist? What is a specialist?
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3. Examine your food web. Is there a top consumer? If so, who is it and how do you know they are the top consumer?
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4. Examine your food web. If the caterpillar were removed, how might the snake population become affected? Justify
your answer.
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5. Use your food web on the front and locate a food chain (from start to finish) that consists of at least 4 trophic levels.
Draw that food chain in the space below and label each trophic level.
6. Turn your food chain from #5 into an energy pyramid below. If you need help, refer to section 13.6 in your book for
examples. Be sure to label each tropic level.
7. Using your energy pyramid above, pretend the grass contains 50,000 kcal of energy. Label the amount of energy that
would be found at every other trophic level.
8. If your food chain from #5 contained a decomposer, which organism(s) would it feed upon? Explain.
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