Science Notes Year 5

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------UNIT 3: FOOD CHAIN AND FOOD WEB

3.1 Food Chain
- All living things need food to continue living so that why they need to depend on one another
for food.
- Animals can be classified into herbivore, carnivore and omnivore.
Animal group
Diet
Herbivore
Plants only
Carnivore
Animals only
Omnivore
Both plants and animals

The relationship that related to one another through their food is called food chain.
A food chain shows a linear food relationship.
The arrow
in the food chain means by eaten by.
The examples of food chain are:
(a) In the forest

Science Notes Year 5

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(b) In a pond

(c) In a paddy field

Based on the food relationship, living things can be classified into producer and consumer.
Producers are the green plants that can make their own food.
Plants supply food to animals directly or indirectly.
All food chains must begin with plants as producers.
Consumers are the animals that eat plants and other animals.

Science Notes Year 5

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3.2 Food Web
- A living thing can be involved in several food chains.
- A food relationship which more complex is known as a food web. It is formed by combining two
tw
or more food chains.

Example:

In one food web, any storage, death or addition of any living thing will affect the other living
things.
For example from the food web above:
(a) The number of birds
irds will increase if there are more grasshopper in the area.
(b) An increase in the number of birds will also increase the number of the eagles.
(c) If the leaves die, all living things will also die as there is no food supply.

Science Notes Year 5

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A certain species of animals eat only one type of food. They have difficulty to survive because
their only sources of food may run out, example:
(a) Pangolin eats ants only
(b) Panda eats bamboo shoots only
(c) Koala bear eats eucalyptus leaves only