Food Web Project

Match each word to its definition.

• producer

• an organism that makes its own food; the base of the food web

• secondary consumer

• an organism that eats secondary consumers to gain energy

• tertiary consumer

• an organism that eats primary consumers to gain energy

• primary consumer

• an organism that eats producers to gain energy

What organism is the producer of the Arctic food web?

• krill

• plankton

• seabirds

What organism is the primary consumer of the Arctic food web?

• krill

• plankton

• seabirds

What organism is the secondary consumer of the Arctic food web?

• krill

• plankton

• silverfish

What organism is the tertiary consumer of the Arctic food web?

• krill

• plankton

• seabirds

Identify one possible food chain that is part of this food web.

• Human --> Polar Bear--> Leopard Seal --> Krill --> Seaweed

• Seabirds --> Penguin --> Artic Cod --> Silverfish

• Phytoplankton --> Krill--> Penguin --> Polar Bear --> Human

What would happen to the Arctic food web if all the plankton were removed from the ecosystem?

• The food web would collapse due to the lack of producer.

• There would be no changes.

• The polar bear population would thrive and their numbers would increase.

Examine the food chain below. The model is one possible food chain you might find in an Arctic ecosystem.

Which organism in the food chain below will have the greatest concentration of pollutants?

Develop a scientific argument using the CER method by matching statement with the correct portion of the argument.

• claim

• Polar bears will contain higher concentrations of the pollutant in their system than the other organisms in the food web.

• reasoning

• Based on the Arctic food web, polar bears feed on leopard seals, which feed on silverfish, which feed on krill, and ultimately feed on plankton. This means that the polar bear is a tertiary consumer or at trophic level 4 in the food web.

• evidence

• According to biomagnification, toxic substances at higher tropic levels accumulate more. Organisms in trophic level 1 absorb small amounts of these toxins, and at each successive trophic level, more and more toxins build up in the tissues of organisms.