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Food Webs
Objective:
Students will research what food is eaten by the following organisms: penguins leopard seals, krill, elephant seals, petrels, albatross, fur seals, squid, insects and grass.
Students will make a food web using the data they have gathered.
Standards Addressed: Benchmarks
Life Science
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Grades 3-5: B. Analyze plant and animal structures and functions needed for survival and describe the flow of energy through a system that all organisms use to survive.
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Grades 3-5: C. Compare changes in an organism's ecosystem/habitat that affect its survival.
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Grades 6-8: B. Describe the characteristics of an organism in terms of a combination of inherited traits and recognize reproduction as a characteristic of living organisms essential to the continuation of the species.
Procedure:
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Students will discuss what life forms are present in Antarctica.
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Break students into groups and have each group go online or go to the library to find out what each of the following organisms eat:
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Penguins (eats krill, squid and small fish)
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Albatross (eats krill, squid and small fish)
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Petrel -- small to medium sea birds (eats plankton, krill, squid and small fish)
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Fur seals (eats krill, fish, squid and sometimes penguin)
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Elephant seals (eats squid --75% of its food -- and fish)
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Leopard seals (eats squid, fish, krill and penguins)
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Sperm whales (eats squid, fish, birds, seals and other whales)
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Blue whales (eats krill and fish)
- Krill (eats plankton, krill eggs and krill larvae)
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Pass out the student activity sheet so that they can fill in what each organism eats.
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Students will then get with a partner and construct a food web using the information that they gathered. If you wish, you can give the students copies of the pictures to use in their web.
Materials:
Hotlist of Web sites
Activity sheet
Assessment:
Chart is filled in correctly 10, 8, 6, 4, 0
Food chain is correct 10, 8, 6, 4, 0
Pictures are NOT to scale!
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Adelie Penguin
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Albatross
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Petrel
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Leopard Seals
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Krill
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Squid
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