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Ecosystem Web Exploration

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Ecosystem Web Exploration

Explore a New Zealand forest food web. Read the field notes and use the feeding relationships described there. Remember: each arrow points from the food being eaten to the organism that gets the energy.

Field notes from the forest

Forest plants make their own food using sunlight. Wētā eat leaves and other plant material. Tūī feed on nectar and insects. Ruru (morepork) hunt small animals, including wētā. Fungi and bacteria decompose dead plants and animals, returning nutrients to the soil. A food web shows how these feeding relationships connect. Arrows show the direction energy moves: from the food to the eater.

Explore the web

Use the field notes to solve each challenge.

1.Which organism is a producer in this food web?
  • Native tree
  • Wētā
  • Ruru
  • Fungi
2.According to the field notes, what does an arrow from wētā to ruru mean?
3.Match each organism group to its role in the food web.
  • Native tree
  • Wētā
  • Fungi and bacteria
  • Decomposers
  • Producer
  • Consumer
4.True or false: A food web is made up of connected feeding relationships, rather than just one feeding path.
TrueFalse
5.Complete the sentence: Fungi and bacteria are decomposers because they dead plants and animals.
6.The number of wētā in the forest falls sharply. Name one organism from the field notes that may have less food, and explain why.
7.A visitor sees rubbish near the forest stream. Suggest one kaitiakitanga action the visitor could take and explain how it helps the ecosystem.
8.Use the feeding relationships in the field notes to trace one path of energy from sunlight to a ruru. Write the organisms in order.

2 printable pages

  • Ecosystem Web Exploration, page 1 of 2: Field notes from the forest, Explore the web

    Page 1

  • Ecosystem Web Exploration, page 2 of 2: 6. The number of wē tā in the forest falls sharply. Name one organism from the field…

    Page 2

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