Ocean Food Webs

ScienceOcean LifeAges 7–9

Understand ocean food webs: multiple interconnected food chains where energy flows from phytoplankton (producers) through zooplankton, small fish, and large predators, and that removing one species affects the whole web

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Teaching Table

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Trace two energy paths in a food web and explain a possible indirect effect.

Activity

Can discuss the supplied example in an accessible mode; adapt directions without supplying the target answer.

Policy

Check the learner can follow the model with support before moving on. Source prerequisite ordering is not learner mastery; return to prerequisite work when needed.

The links are a simplified stipulated ocean model, not a complete surveyed ecosystem. Open S first, G together, then T alone; put S and G away before T. Keys stay adult-only. No purchase or printing is required; an unavailable physical observation remains pending, not passed.

Materials are ready in each step. Use them on screen or print just the current step. Put teaching examples aside before the learner tries.

What this lesson covers and its limits

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partial: Understand ocean food webs: multiple interconnected food chains where energy flows from phytoplankton (producers) through zooplankton, small fish, and large predators, and that removing one species affects the whole web
Stipulated links support network reasoning; no measured local ecosystem or guaranteed population change.
partial: Distinguish a food web from a simple food chain
Stipulated links support network reasoning; no measured local ecosystem or guaranteed population change.
partial: Trace at least two paths of energy through an ocean food web
Stipulated links support network reasoning; no measured local ecosystem or guaranteed population change.
partial: Explain what could happen if one species in the web were removed
Stipulated links support network reasoning; no measured local ecosystem or guaranteed population change.
partial: Can {{name}} explain why catching too many of one type of fish doesn't just affect that fish — it affects the whole food web, including the animals that eat it and the things it eats?
Stipulated links support network reasoning; no measured local ecosystem or guaranteed population change.

Stipulated links support network reasoning; no measured local ecosystem or guaranteed population change.

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Trace two energy paths in a food web and explain a possible indirect effect.

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Check understanding

Distinguish a food web from a simple food chain
Trace at least two paths of energy through an ocean food web
Explain what could happen if one species in the web were removed

“Can your child explain why catching too many of one type of fish doesn't just affect that fish — it affects the whole food web, including the animals that eat it and the things it eats?”

Curriculum record

Type: Conceptual
Subject: Science
Domain: Ocean Life
Age range: Ages 7–9