British Dragonfly Society Education
BDS
British Dragonfly Society
Food Chains
This demonstrates the interactions and energy flow between plants and animals (including humans);
learners develop their understanding of how species depend on one another and on the environment for
survival. This can be adapted for both the larval and adult life stages.
A number of laminated cards are needed to represent each stage in the food chain, for example:
Flow of energy from Sun
to tertiary consumers
Primary consumers
Secondary consumers
Tertiary consumers
Energy source = Sun
Green plants found at larval stage
Bogbean; water mint; algae
Tadpole; water snail; water flea
Damselfly nymph; stickleback fish; mallard duck
Dragonfly nymph; dipper; red fox
Green plants found at adult stage
Hawthorn; grass; marsh marigold; reeds
Buff-tailed bumble bee; snail; butterfly;
red deer
Blue tit; dragonfly; song thrush; midge
Sparrowhawk; hobby; red fox; damselfly
Food chain 1: Sun -> Bogbean -> Tadpole -> Mallard duck -> Red fox
Food chain 2: Sun -> Water mint -> Water snail -> Stickleback -> Dipper
Food chain 3: Sun -> Algae -> Water flea -> Damselfly nymph -> Dragonfly nymph
Foodchain 4: Sun -> Hawthorn -> Butterfly -> Dragonfly -> Hobby
Foodchain 5: Sun -> Grass -> Snail -> Song thrush -> Sparrowhawk
Foodchain 6: Sun -> Reeds -> Red deer -> Midge -> Daamselfly
These can all be mixed up to make different food chains and more complicated food webs, with arrows
showing the transfer of energy from the sun to green plant to primary consumer & further up the food
chain.
Once the food chains & webs are set up, introduce a piece of string that everyone in the food chain holds
on to. Add a pressure or impact that removes one link of the chain eg adding insecticide will kill off the
primary consumer eg the bumble bee/ adding herbicide will kill off the green plant eg hawthorn – ask
the children to identify the impacts. The child playing this part will now die & has to sit down. As the
string is held taut, children immediately connected should feel a tug and they also sit. Once everyone is
sitting down, make them stand up again & re-play the activity slowly so they have time to think about the
interactions at each stage. With older/more confident children this may extend beyond a simple food chain
to use of plants for nesting and other interconnections such as shelter.
Photos l-r: Black Darter, David Kitching; Large Red Damselfly, Mark Tyrrell; Azure Hawker, Anne Abbs and Common Blue Damselfly, David Kitching.