Antarctic food webs
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can describe what food webs are and explain how Antarctic food webs work.
Key learning points
- Food webs display the transfers of energy within one location.
- Antarctic food webs contain phytoplankton (producers), krill and squid (consumers) and leopard seals (apex predators).
- Changes to food webs arising from overfishing can affect different species.
- The Ross Sea Marine Park Area has been established to help protect young fish.
Keywords
Producer - an organism that makes its own food using sunlight
Consumer - an organism that eats other organisms for energy
Apex predator - an organism at the top of the food chain, with no natural enemies
Common misconception
A food web is linear.
A food web is not linear, it is complex and interconnected.
Teacher tip
Get the students to create their own food webs. Give them all the information and ask them to put them in the correct place as a food web.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What makes Antarctica the coldest place on Earth?
Q2.How does ice help keep Earth's temperature stable?
Q3.What is the difference between snow and ice?
Q4.Which of these is a major threat to cold environments?
Q5.Where is the largest ice sheet in the world located?
Q6.Which of the following animals is found in Antarctica?
Assessment exit quiz
5 Questions
Q1.Unlike a food chain, which is linear, a food is complex and interconnected.
Q2.What is a producer?
Q3.What is a consumer in a food web?
Q4.Which animal is an apex predator in Antarctica?
Q5.What is the role of krill in the Antarctic food web?
To help you plan your 9 geography lesson on: Antarctic food webs, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 9 geography lesson on: Antarctic food webs, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 geography lessons from the Ice and glaciers: How are cold places affected by a warming planet? unit, dive into the full secondary geography curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.