Study Guide: Food Chains and Animal Adaptations
A line of producers, consumers, and decomposers make up a food chain.
In a food chain the energy from the sun travels through the plants and animals
A food web is made up of several food chains that are connected.
Producers are green plants that are able to make their own food. Plants have
special adaptations to allow them to trap the energy from the sun.
Green plants use energy from the sun to make food.
This is called photosynthesis. Producers are at the
beginning of the food chain.
Consumers are organisms that eat plants and animals.
There are 3 kinds of consumers: herbivores, carnivores and omnivores.
Herbivores eat only plants. Carnivores eat only meat. Omnivores eat both
plants and meat.
omnivore
herbivore
carnivore
You will find decomposers (mushrooms and other fungi, bacteria, worms) at the
end of the food chain.
There are organisms that break down dead plant and animal materials and
return the energy and nutrients to the soil.
Animals also have adaptations to allow them to find food and eat it as well as
protect themselves from predators.
A predator is an animal that hunts for food. The animals that predators eat
are called prey.
predator
prey
Adaptation – a special characteristic that helps an organism survive
Shelter – a place or an object that protects an animal
Animal homes include holes in the ground, caves or dens,
trees, and water.
Defense – Animals may use venom, weapons (antlers, hooves, claws,
teeth, spines) shells or tough skin, protective coloration,
or play dead to defend themselves against danger.
Food – Some animals hunt for food, others graze (walk around
and eat leaves and grass), others gather and store their food.
hunt
gather and store
graze
Migration – move to another place where it is warmer
Hibernation – sleep through the cold winter
Camouflage – an adaptation that allows an animal to blend in with its
environment
Mimicry – Looking like another organism so others will be afraid of it
Learned trait (behavior) – things that are taught or learned by doing
Instinct – a way of acting that an animal is born with
a spider spinning a web.
birds migrating
a dog barking
a bear hibernating