11–14 Teacher notes: Food web board game Land, water and bees – don’t take us for granted: Food web board game Teacher notes Introduction The aim of the presentation ‘Bees in the ecosystem’ and this associated game is to review the concept of ecosystems, exemplified by food webs, and examine the position of bees, in particular honeybees, in a food web. Students consider how the delicate balance of the food web will be disturbed by a reduction in bee numbers. The importance of bees as crop pollinators and the effect of their loss is also touched on. Activities Food webs The presentation includes a food web and some suggested questions. You could extend the food web (or ask the students to do this) or consider other aspects of the ecosystem in that habitat (for example, shelter), and/or look at the concepts of energy flow, trophic level and biomass. Hedgerow food web Challenge students to name some organisms they would find in a hedgerow (you may need to prompt them to ensure that they think of a mixture of producers, consumers and decomposers). Ask each student to create a short food chain or web, swap it with their neighbour’s and then discuss what they included. The class could then assemble one large food web. The board game This board game covers the topic of food chains and webs within a countryside food chain. Consider extending this by asking students to think about how they could make the game more challenging for other groups. Or suggest that they play the game with younger or lower ability children to consolidate learning. Equipment A set of equipment includes: • • • • • • the game board predator–prey cards (front and back) question cards (front and back) game counters dice instructions You need one set per six students. 11–14 Teacher notes: Food web board game Planning The board, predator–prey (PP) and question cards (front and back), and the counters will need to be printed or photocopied, ideally onto card. By repositioning the page showing the fronts of the cards, the printing or copying could be double-­sided. The cards and counters need to be cut into individual items. For repeat use they could be laminated, including the board. Each group will require a board, six counters (one of each member of the food web), a set of PP and question cards, a dice and a copy of the student activity sheet with the instructions on how to play the game. The instructions are given in the Student activity sheet. This game is based on an idea by Katy Galloway (https://www.tes.com/teaching-­resource/woodland-­food-­web-­
board-­game-­6087310) and released under a CC-­BY-­SA licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-­sa/3.0/) 11–14 Student activity sheet: Food web board game 8 7 6 5 4 Rose 9 38 37 36 11 39 60 START 35 34 33 32 59 58 Aphid 57 56 31 Thrush 55 30 PP 12 PP 41 54 thrush
PP 13 Ladybird 42 ladybird 14 43 53 Spider 28 52 27 honey-­‐
bee
PP aphid
6 44 Rose 45 rose
47 18 19 20 PP 3 51 26 Ladybird 48 49 50 25 21 Thrush 22 23 24 Bee PP 17 Photos: Wellcome Trust / Wellcome Images;; Stieber / Shutterstock.com;; Erni / Fotolia.com;; Fedorov Oleksiy / Shutterstock.com;; kernel / Fotolia.com;; v_ridjin / Fotolia.com
46 29 PP spider
15 1 Bee FINISH 40 2 Spider PP PP 10 Aphid 3 PP 11–14 Student activity sheet: Food web board game Fronts for all cards Predators and prey Predators and prey Predators and prey Predators and prey 4 Predators and prey Predators and prey Predators and prey Predators and prey 11–14 Student activity sheet: Food web board game Predator and prey cards (PP) A virus spreads through the honeybees, and their numbers decrease. Honeybee – back 3 Good for: forward 2 Rose – eaten by fewer animals. Aphid – more food. Bad for: back 2 Thrush – less food. Spider – less food. Ladybird – more competition for food. A good season for ladybirds. Many eggs hatched. Ladybird – forward 2 Good for: forward 1 Rose – eaten by fewer animals. Thrush – more food. Spider – more food. Bad for: back 1 Aphid – eaten by more animals. A good season for Very little rain;; honeybees. Many plants find it hard to larvae (baby bees) grow. survive. Rose – back 2 Honeybee – forward 3 Good for: forward 2 No-­one! Good for: forward 1 Thrush – more food. Bad for: back 2 Spider – more food. Thrush – less food. Spider – less food. Bad for: Back 1 Ladybird – less food. Aphid – more Aphid – less food. competition for food. Honeybee – less Rose – eaten by food. more animals. Many more thrush chicks survive one A warm season for A parasite causes spring. aphids. Many many aphids to die, A lovely springtime. mature quickly and and their numbers Many plants grow Thrush – forward 3 reproduce. decrease. very well. Good for: forward 1 Aphid – forward 4 Aphid – back 2 Rose – forward 2 Rose – eaten by fewer animals. Good for: forward 2 Good for: forward 1 Good for: forward 2 Aphid – eaten by Ladybird – more Rose – eaten by Everyone else – fewer animals. food. fewer animals. more food. Spider – more food. Honeybee – less Bad for: back 2 competition for food. Bad for: Ladybird – eaten by Bad for: back 2 No-­one! more animals. Honeybee – more Bad for: back 2 Spider – eaten by competition for food. Ladybird – less food. more animals. Rose – eaten by Spider – less food. Honeybee – eaten by more animals. more animals. 5 11–14 Student activity sheet: Food web board game Predator and prey cards (PP) A warm season for spiders. The spider A cold snap causes A new disease population matures spider numbers to attacks thrushes, through the decline. and their fledglings summer. Female ladybirds die. stop mating. The Spider – back 3 Spider – forward 4 population declines. Thrush – back 3 Good for: forward 1 Good for: forward 2 Ladybird – back 4 Honeybee – eaten by Good for: forward 1 Rose – eaten by fewer animals. Spider – eaten by fewer animals. Good for: forward 1 Aphid – eaten by fewer animals. Thrush – more food. Aphid – eaten by fewer animals. Ladybird – eaten by fewer animals. Ladybird – eaten by fewer animals. Bad for: back 1 fewer animals. Honeybee – eaten by Honeybee – eaten by Bad for: back 1 fewer animals. more animals. Thrush – less food. Bad For: back 1 Aphid – eaten by Thrush – less food. Bad for: more animals. Rose – eaten by No-­one! Ladybird – eaten by more animals. more animals. A warm summer leads to an influx of Roses develop a foreign ladybirds root disease and and more spiders. die. Lots of snow. A very mild winter. Ladybird and spider Rose – back 2 Animals and plants All plants survive – forward 2 that live above and grow well next Good for: forward 2 ground freeze. year. Good for: forward 1 No-­one! Rose – eaten by Bad for: back 3 Good for: forward 4 fewer animals. Bad for: back 2 Everyone, since there Everyone, since there Thrush – more food. Thrush – less food. are no plants growing is lots of food. Spider – less food. or food to eat. Bad for: back 1 Ladybird – less food. Honeybee – eaten by Aphid – less food. more animals. Honeybee – less Aphid – eaten by food. more animals. 6 11–14 Student activity sheet: Food web board game Question cards Question: In a food chain, what do we call the plant that provides the initial energy? Answer: the producer FORWARD 3 Question: What name do we give to an animal that eats only the producer? Answer: herbivore or primary consumer FORWARD 1 Question: What name do we give to an animal that eats only plants? Answer: herbivore FORWARD 2 Question: What name do we give to an animal that eats only animals? Answer: carnivore FORWARD 2 Question: What name do we give to an animal that eats both plants and animals? Answer: omnivore FORWARD 2 Question: Name one food chain from this game. Answers: rose → honeybee → thrush rose → honeybee → spider → thrush rose → aphid → spider → thrush rose → aphid → ladybird → thrush FORWARD 4 Question: Name one food chain from this game. Answers: rose → honeybee → thrush rose → honeybee → spider → thrush rose → aphid → spider → thrush rose → aphid → ladybird → thrush FORWARD 2 Question: What name do we give to an animal that eats the second consumer? Answer: tertiary consumer FORWARD 2 7 11–14 Student activity sheet: Food web board game Counters thrush spider lady-­
bird thrush spider lady-­
bird thrush spider lady-­
bird aphid rose aphid bee rose aphid rose thrush spider lady-­
bird thrush spider lady-­
bird thrush spider lady-­
bird aphid rose aphid bee rose aphid rose thrush spider lady-­
bird thrush spider lady-­
bird thrush spider lady-­
bird aphid rose aphid bee rose aphid rose bee bee bee bee bee bee thrush spider lady-­
bird thrush spider lady-­
bird thrush spider lady-­
bird aphid rose aphid rose aphid rose thrush spider lady-­
bird thrush spider lady-­
bird thrush spider lady-­
bird aphid rose aphid rose aphid rose thrush spider lady-­
bird thrush spider lady-­
bird thrush spider lady-­
bird aphid rose aphid rose aphid rose 8 bee bee bee bee bee bee bee bee bee