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| FOOD
CHAIN!!!! I know what a chain is, but I’ve never seen
a chain made of food. So, if a “food chain” isn’t
a chain made of food, what is it???? |
| I’ll
make this as simple as possible. A food chain shows how each
living thing gets its food (energy). A food chain always starts
with plants and ends with an animal.
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Just
so you know the right terms: the animals that eat the plants
are called herbivores.
The
animals that eat other animals are called carnivores
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So, let’s
go back for a minute. I said that every food chain starts with
plants. Why do you think that’s true??? |
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| Well,
the food chain is showing the energy
flow so we have to start with where the energy
starts. This is where that really big term comes in –
photosynthesis
– WHAT IS THAT??? Photosynthesis is using the sun’s
energy to convert inorganic
(non-living) compounds into organic (living)
compounds |
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| OK,
I know that sounds complicated. It just means that plants use
the sun’s energy to make food. Is that better? |
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| When
an animal eats the plant, the animal gets energy from the plant.
When a second animal eats the first one, the second animal gets
the energy. And on it goes – down the “chain”. |
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