Download North sea food thought game cards

Food for thought…
North Sea food web
Notes for teachers:
Food for thought… is an interactive food webs game, designed to give pupils an appreciation for the fact
that every organism living in a community is interconnected through feeding relationships.
Split the class in two and hand a double sided print-out of each of the following organism cards to half of
the class. The other half will be responsible for helping to construct the food web, based on the ‘key facts’
printed on the reverse of the picture cards. This role can be reversed by using another one of our food for
thought… packs downloadable from the website.
You will also need a hole puncher, for use where an
treasury tags to hold the food web together.
is indicated, and some strips of wool attached to
Get pupils to think about which organisms are producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers and
top predators to start them off. You can also use the bacteria card if you wish to symbolise decomposition
of permanent, sea living organisms in the food web. A guide of what the finished food web should look like
is below:
HERRING
COD
PUFFINS
SEALS
SANDEELS
BACTERIA
WORMS
PHYTOPLANKTON
ZOOPLANKTON
SUN
Scenario cards are provided, both as printable documents and as a slideshow, of events that would affect
organisms in the food web. The pupil holding the organism that is affected sits down symbolising their
removal from the food web. Feeding connections to this organism are severed and the effect of its removal
on other organisms similarly indicated.
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This activity has sustainable development implications, by considering the impacts
Of humans on the marine environment and possible ways of managing this.
Sand eels
Photo credit: www.marlab.ac.uk
Algae
Key Facts:
The most important organism in
the North Sea food web.
Are primary consumers that
burrow and live in the sandy
bottom of the North Sea.
Seals
Photo credit: Victoria Katzensteiner
Key Facts:
Feed on land and in the sea.
Are top predators in the North Sea
food web that enjoy fish as a main
staple of their diet.
Sun
Killer Whales
Key Facts:
The primary source of energy for
most food webs on the planet.
Used by producers to make
energy through the process of
photosynthesis.
Cod
Key Facts:
Photo credit: Corbis
Key Facts:
Highly valued commercial species in the
North Sea.
Secondary consumers that feed on
microscopic animals when they are young,
and small fish as they grow to maturity.
Bacteria
Photo credit: Gordon Beakes, Newcastle University
Key Facts:
Microscopic organisms.
Break down dead plants and
animals to release nutrients back
into the water column.
Puffins
Photo credit: Brian Wilson
Key Facts:
Beautiful seabirds that feed
exclusively on one type of oily fish
in the North Sea.
Are secondary consumers
Phytoplankton
Photo credit: Malcolm Baptie
Key Facts:
Tiny microscopic plants that float
around in the water column.
Producers that make energy using
the process of photosynthesis.
Zooplankton
Key Facts:
Photo credit: Malcolm Baptie
Key Facts:
Zooplankton are classed as tiny
microscopic animals or the larval
stages of some marine animals.
Primary consumers that feed on
phytoplankton.
Herring
Photo credit: www.bodegabayhomes.com
Key Facts:
Shoaling fish that feed on small oily fish
in the North Sea.
Are secondary consumers that may also
feed on the babies of other
commercially important North Sea
species.
Worms
Key Facts:
Are omnivores that live in sandy
sediments on the North Sea floor.
Some feed on decaying organic matter in
the sand, whilst other filter out tiny
marine plants and animals from the
water column.