Food Chain Hotlist

The way that energy is passed from one organism to another is called a food chain. There are often many food chains in an ecosystem, and they are linked together into a food web.

Nearly all food chains start with energy from the sun. Through photosynthesis, green plants convert light energy into sugars and starches which are stored in the plant. Plant-eating animals acquire some of the stored energy by eating the plants. These plant-eating animals then pass energy on to other animals that eat them.

The following sites are a list of internet-based resources about the food chain.

Food Chain
http://www.planetpals.com/foodchain.html

Producers are living things which take the nonliving matter from the environment, such as minerals and gases and use them to support life. Green plants are considered producers and the are at the beginning of the food chain.

The Food Chain
http://library.thinkquest.org/11353/text/food.htm

A popular misnomer, the food chain is not actually a linear chain but a complex web. Energy is passed from one organism to another in a complex network like a spider's web.

Food Museum
http://www.foodmuseum.com/

Food fuels all that we do, everyday. It makes all of life possible. The Food Museum examines what in the world we eat and how we eat it, where it came from, how it has evolved, what its impact is on culture, what its future may be.

Food Chains: Prey and Predators
http://www.cas.psu.edu/DOCS/WEBCOURSE/WETLAND/WET1/main.html

Classroom activities where students solve food chain problems.

Author: LINDA MOSBACKER - Email linda.mosbacker@slc.k12.ut.us