To Prey or Not to Prey

When?Before or during the expedition

Disciplines:Biology and ecology

Description

Students graphically demonstrate the connections between plants and animals as energy is passed along.

Learner Outcomes

The student will:

  • Show the relationship between animals and plants in the food chain.
  • Explain the importance of a healthy food chain/web/cycle.
  • State the connections between predators, prey, and plants.

Background

All living things, plants and animals, are connected as parts of a food chain. Some members of the food chain are producers, providing food for other organisms. Other members are consumers of those producers. Knowledge of the interrelationships and interdependencies of living things is important.

Materials

Life Cards, string or ball of yarn

Suggested Procedure

The teacher or park rangerwill:

  1. Select which animals, plants, and energy sources to include in a web of life activity. Use the Eat or Be Eaten supplement as your guide. Write the name and draw a picture of the animal/plant/energy source on the front side of the card. On the back of the card write what it eats and is eaten by.Loop a string through each card so students can wear the card like a necklace.
  2. Offer examples to explain the terms consumer, producer, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, predator, and prey.
  3. Go outdoors to a large open space and provide instructions for a web of life activity without giving it a title.
  • Have students form a circle.
  • Give students new names—Mr. Grizzly Bear, Ms. Mountain Lion, etc.
  • Pass out Life Cards for students to hang around their necks, picture side out. Attempt to position an animal across the circle from the food it might eat. (If it is a small group, go through the cards to select the most appropriate animals/plants and be sure to include the Sun card.)
  • Have students lose their voice, except when they have energy (the string).
  • Explain that only one card may start the game.Elicit finger pointing for who it might be. When they have determined that the Sun is the beginner of the game, have the Sun go to the center of the circle.
  • Give the end of the string to the Sun.
  • Have the Sun state whom he/she will give energy to.It must be one of the green plants. If necessary, review photosynthesis.
  • Keep the string from sagging or becoming a tug-of-war object.
  • Have the Sun stay in the center while you walk the string to the plant. Continue to walk the string to each player as they are chosen. You will be in the web and may have to go through contortions to take the string to the next person.
  • Send the energy (string) back to someone who is already in the web if necessary to include all students.
  1. Open a discussion by asking questions. What does this look like? What have you created? If we had time and string and many more hands, could we go around more times? What are some other possible relationships that you see in the circle? Where do humans fit into this web of life?
  2. Discuss the importance of a healthy ecosystem to enable everything to survive.

Allow two or three students to jiggle their string with a large up and down motion while everyone else sits very still.Have the others look at their own string. If their string has wiggled even a little, they are somehow connected to the others. Do this a few times, using different students each time. What would happen to them if the ecosystem became unhealthy for the other inhabitants?

  1. Talk about each animal and plant as you wind the string. If there were a problem with the fish, the otter would be affected, etc. You could make scenarios up as you go, but this part needs to move right along.
  2. Have students take off their nametags and collect them.

NOTE: You also might include soil, shelter, or water in the circle, especially if you have more than 31 participants or want to include the adults. There are no cards for them, but they could remember their role and state it to the others. This would open discussion beyond just food/energy needs.The string would become more than just food energy.

Supplement

Eat or Be Eaten
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Wolf / Hoofed animals (elk 90%)
Beaver
Hares
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Grizzly bear / Rodents
Insects
Elk calves
Cutthroat trout
Roots, pine nuts
Grasses
Large mammals
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Elk / Grasses / Wolves
Sedges / Grizzly bears
Shrubs / Coyotes
Aspen bark / Mountain Lion
Aquatic plants / Humans
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Black bear / Rodents
Insects
Elk calves
Cutthroat trout
Pine nuts
Grasses
Other vegetation
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Bison / Grasses / Wolves
Sedges / Bears
Scavenger species
Humans
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Beaver / Aspen / Wolves
Willow / Otters
Cottonwood
Pond lilies
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Bighorn sheep / Grasses / Bald eagle (lambs)
Shrubby plants / Coyotes
Wolves
Humans
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Mountain lion / Elk
Mule deer
Porcupines
Small mammals
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Red fox / Small Mammals
Rabbits
Insects
Carrion
Some plants
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Snowshoe hare / Shrubs / Lynx
Plants / Bobcats
Coyotes
Foxes
Great horned owls
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Fungi / Decomposes carrion and / Some small mammals
dead plant matter
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Buds and twigs / Elk
Beavers
Snowshoe hares
Moose
Deer
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Fruits / Bears
Foxes
Coyotes
Birds
Insects
Deer
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Aspen / Elk
Pikas
Beavers
Insects
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Grasses / Elk
Deer
Bears
Bison
Insects
Bighorn sheep
Marmots
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Snakes / Small rodents / Fish
Fish / Birds
Frogs / Carnivorous mammals
Tadpoles
Salamanders
Worms
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Birds / Seeds / Other birds
Insects / Carnivorous mammals
Berries / Snakes and squirrels (bird eggs)
Fish / Weasels (bird eggs)
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Aquatic insects / Other aquatic insects / Fish
Aquatic plants / Reptiles
Amphibians
Birds
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Eagle / Fish
Bighorn Sheep (lambs)
Carrion
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Deer / Shrubs / Wolves
Aspen / Coyotes
Grasses / Mountain lions
Conifers / Bears
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Terrestrial insects / Plant material / Rodents
Other insects / Foxes
Blood (mosquitoes, ticks) / Coyotes
Bears
Weasels
Martens
Fish
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Pika / Grasses / Coyotes
Sedges / Martens
Aspen / Hawks
Lichens
Conifer twigs
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Ground squirrel / Fungi / Weasels
Leaves / Coyotes
Buds / Badgers
Seeds / Hawks
Nuts / Foxes
Roots
Bird eggs
Insects
Carrion
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Weasel / Rodents / Birds
Ground squirrel
Birds
Eggs
Snakes
Insects
Frogs
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
River otter / Fish
Frogs
Young muskrat
Beaver
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Pine marten / Rodents
Hares
Shrews
Pika
Birds
Eggs
Insects
Berries
Carrion
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Coyote / Small mammals
Ground squirrels
Birds
Carrion
Elk calves
Deer
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Yellow-bellied / Grasses / Coyotes
marmot / Seeds / Grizzly bears
Insects / Golden eagles
Forbs
Animal/Plant / Eats / Is eaten by
Cutthroat trout / Small fish / Bald eagles
Fish eggs / Bears
Small rodents / Lake Trout
Frogs / Osprey
Algae / Otters
Aquatic insects / Humans
Terrestrial insects