Guide: MinnAqua Program "Fishing: Get in the Habitat!"

Activity: 1:2 Food Chain Tag

Activity page number: 1:2-C

PLT activity num:

Summary: In this active role-playing lesson, students discover how energy flows and is transferred between the interdependent organisms of an ecosystem by assuming various roles (minnows, perch, northern pike, bacteria, and anglers)in an aquatic food chain. Each species feeds on plankton--or on one another--to obtain the food that provides the needed energy for survival in the lake. Decomposers break down dead plants and animals, recycling nutrients. In successive rounds of Food Chain Tag, new species are introduced and population ratios altered in an effort to balance the simulated ecosystem.

Subject areas: Language Arts, Physical Education, Science

Keywords: angler, balance, biomass, carrying capacity, consumer, decomposer, ecosystem, emigrate, food chain, food web, nutrient cycle, phytoplankton, plankton, predato, prey, primary consumer, producer, secondary consumer, zooplankton

Objectives: 1. The students will illustrate that energy is transferred through an aquatic food chain by producers, consumers, and decomposers. 2. The students will illustrate how decomposers recycle nutrients from dead plants and animals. 3. The students will examine predator-prey relationships by assuming the roles of predators and prey in a lake ecosystem. 4. The students will define carrying capacity. 5. The students will determine the necessary number of predators and prey to achieve balance in a simulated lake ecosystem. 6. The students will explain how organisms in a food chain depend on one another for survival.

Recommended grades: 3-5