GOOGLE EARTH ACTIVITY 2: Food webs
Summary
This activity uses Google Earth to investigate and then link up a food chain or web of marine life around the Great Barrier Reef. Students can link up different species into a food chain, and then play
a tour, going from species to species up the food chain.
The activity supports topics looking at ecosystems and food webs. Students are encouraged to explore how much each species relies on another.
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What’s the longest food chain students can make?
Preparation
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Download Google Earth on all computers being used for this activity: http://earth.google.com
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Download the Catlin Seaview Survey layer from: http://oceans.digitalexplorer.com/resources/?collection=coral-oceans
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Ensure you’ve read through the step-by-step instructions which follow!
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GOOGLE EARTH ACTIVITY 2: Food webs
Step 1 - Opening the Google Earth file
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Open Google Earth
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Select ‘Open’ from the file menu and browse for the file location of the Catlin Seaview Survey Google Earth file
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Click ‘Open’
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GOOGLE EARTH ACTIVITY 2: Food webs
Step 2 - Add work folder
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The opened file will appear in the Temporary Places section of the Places area
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Create a work folder by highlighting the Temporary Places folder and right clicking (CTRL + click on a Mac) OR going to the Add menu
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Select Add - Folder
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GOOGLE EARTH ACTIVITY 2: Food webs
Step 3 - Renaming folders
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This new folder has been named ‘Food web’ in preparation for creating a marine food web
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To edit a folder name simply right click on a folder (CTRL + click on a Mac) and select Properties from the pop-up menu - this will return you to this view
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GOOGLE EARTH ACTIVITY 2: Food webs
Step 4 - Exploring marine life
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Explore! Click on the icons in the sea to read more about each species
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Take note of what each species eats and is eaten by, and note down a food chain
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GOOGLE EARTH ACTIVITY 2: Food webs
Step 5 - Creating food webs
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Begin dragging the icons in the food chain from the Places area into the Food web folder
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Try doing this in order, starting with the primary producer
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You can also drag and drop the icons into the correct order once they are in the folder
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GOOGLE EARTH ACTIVITY 2: Food webs
Step 6 - Touring and saving your food web
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Once the Food web folder is complete, select the folder in the menu by clicking once, then click the Play Tour icon at the bottom of the Places panel
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To save work to your computer, right click (CTRL + click on a Mac) and select ‘Save Place As’ and save the work to your file area as you would with any other file
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GOOGLE EARTH ACTIVITY 2: Food webs
Step 7 - Touring options
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To show the information about the different species during a tour, select the ‘Tools’ menu at the top and click on ‘Options…’ (Apple menu and ‘Preferences’ on a Mac)
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Select the ‘Touring’ tab and then tick the box ‘Show balloon when waiting at features’
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Click ‘Apply’, then ‘OK’
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Start your tour as before
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