Food Chains and Predator-Prey Cycles

• What should you be able to do by the end of the video?

  Use food chains to represent feeding relationships and describe changes in predator and prey numbers over time.
• What is the significance of producers in a food chain?

  • They are the source of all biomass in the community.
  • They synthesize complex molecules like glucose through photosynthesis.
  • They begin every food chain.
• What is a primary consumer?

  Organisms that eat producers.
• In the first food chain, who is the primary consumer?

  The rabbit.
• In the second food chain, who is the primary consumer?

  The caterpillar.
• What is a secondary consumer?

  • An animal that eats a primary consumer.
  • It is the next level in the food chain after primary consumers.
• In the food chain with four stages, who is the secondary consumer?

  The small bird.
• What is a tertiary consumer?

  An animal that eats a secondary consumer.
• In the food chain with four stages, who is the tertiary consumer?

  The bird of prey.
• What are predators and prey in a food chain?

  • Predators: Consumers that kill and eat other animals.
  • Prey: The animals that are being eaten.
• In the first food chain, who is the predator?

  The fox.
• In the second food chain, who is the predator?

  The bird.
• How do predator and prey populations change over time?

  • Populations rise and fall in cycles.
  • An increase in prey leads to an increase in predators.
  • A decrease in prey leads to a decrease in predators.
• What happens to the rabbit population during a warm summer?

  It increases due to more grass available for food.
• What effect does an increase in the fox population have on the rabbit population?

  The rabbit population decreases due to increased predation.
• What is a stable community?

  • A community where all biotic and abiotic factors are in balance.
  • Predator-prey cycles remain consistent in a stable community.
• What can disrupt predator-prey cycles in a community?

  Changes such as a drought or the arrival of a new predator.