🔗 Everything is Connected
An ecosystem is a community of living things (plants, animals, microorganisms) interacting with their non-living environment (water, air, soil, sunlight). Energy flows through ecosystems as organisms eat and are eaten.
📊 Energy Levels in an Ecosystem
🌱
Producers
Plants that make their own food from sunlight (photosynthesis)
🐰
Primary Consumers
Herbivores that eat plants
🦊
Secondary Consumers
Carnivores that eat herbivores
🦅
Tertiary Consumers
Top predators — apex of the chain
🦠
Decomposers
Break down dead matter, recycle nutrients
⛓️ Food Chains
A Simple Path of Energy
A food chain shows one path of energy transfer:
☀️
Sun
→
🌿
Grass
→
🐛
Caterpillar
→
🐦
Bird
→
🦅
Hawk
🕸️ Food Webs
The Real Picture is More Complex
In reality, animals eat many different things. A food web shows all the interconnected food chains in an ecosystem.
- Multiple arrows show multiple food sources
- If one species disappears, others are affected
- More connections = more stable ecosystem
🇳🇿 Aotearoa Example
Native Forest Food Web
- 🌲 Producers: Rimu, kahikatea, ferns, mosses
- 🪲 Primary consumers: Wētā, kererū, insects
- 🦎 Secondary consumers: Kea, morepork, lizards
- 🦗 Decomposers: Fungi, bacteria, invertebrates
Problem: Introduced predators (rats, stoats, possums) have disrupted these webs!
✏️ Activities
Activity: Create a Food Web
Choose an NZ ecosystem (forest, coast, wetland) and draw a food web with at least:
- 3 producers
- 4 consumers
- 1 decomposer
Draw arrows showing the direction energy flows (from eaten TO eater).
Draw your food web here
👩🏫 Teacher Notes
Curriculum Links
- Science: Living World — ecology, life processes
- Te Ao Māori: Kaitiakitanga, connection to environment