Download Coral reefs food thought game cards

Food for thought…
Coral Reef Food Web
Photo credit: George Stoyle
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
hold the food web together.
is indicated, and some strips of wool attached to treasury tags 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:
SUN
CORAL
SEAWEED
PHYTOPLANKTON
ZOOPLANKTON
PARROT FISH
BUTTERFLY FISH
SEA URCHIN
SEA FAN
SQUID
SEA CUCUMBER
BACTERIA
SHARK
Scenario cards are provided, as printable documents, 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.
This activity has sustainable development implications, by considering the impacts of humans on the marine environment
and possible ways of managing this.
Sun
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.
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.
Sea fan
Photo credit: Jani Tanzil
Key Facts:
A form of soft coral that filter
feeds on tiny animals from the
water column.
Secondary consumers with very
few natural predators.
Sea urchin
Photo credit: Sara Marsham
Key Facts:
Sea urchins are grazers, who
belong to the same family as
starfish and sea cucumbers.
Primary consumers with very few
natural predators because of their
protective spines.
Seaweed
Food for thought…
Coral Reef Food Web
Photo credit: Sara Marsham
Key Facts:
Grows in tufts on coral reefs.
Producers that make energy using
the process of photosynthesis
Squid
Photo credit: Sara Marsham
Key Facts:
Secondary consumers that feed by
catching krill in their sticky
tentacles.
Squid are actually related to
marine snails!
Butterfly fish
Photo credit: George Stoyle
Key Facts:
Brightly coloured reef fish that live
in groups.
Primary consumers that graze on
algal tufts growing on coral reefs.
Coral
Key Facts:
Both a primary consumer and primary producer!
Coral has a mutually beneficial relationship with
microscopic algae which means it gets energy from
photosynthesis during the day.
During the night corals have tentacles which they
use to catch passing microscopic animals
Shark
Photo credit: Linda Olsson
Key Facts:
The top predator on coral reefs.
Secondary consumers that
actively hunt large fish and squid
to eat.
Parrot fish
Key Facts:
Coral eating fish that blend in
perfectly to their brightly coloured
backgrounds.
Are primary consumers.
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.
Sea cucumber
Sea cucumber
Key Facts:
Detritivores that filter food out of
the sand.
Fully grown sea cucumbers can
filter up to 23 litres of sand and
sea water per day!