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Interactions between Consumers and Producers

Subject Area: Science | Grade Level: 7
Lesson Length: 1 hour
Keywords/Tags: Trophic cascades, Ecology, Ecosystems, Producers, Predators, Prey
Lesson Description: In this lessons, students will investigate the relationship between consumers and producers, as well as limited resources within an ecosystem through the concept of "keystone species." After watching the video and completing the activities, students should be able to understand trophic cascades, and how they relate to producers, predators, and prey, as well as describe why some species in an ecosystem have a greater effect than others.

SC.7.L.17.1 Explain and illustrate the roles of and relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in the process of energy transfer in a food web.
SC.7.L.17.2 Compare and contrast the relationships among organisms such as mutualism, predation, parasitism, competition, and commensalism.
SC.7.L.17.3 Describe and investigate various limiting factors in the local ecosystem and their impact on native populations, including food, shelter, water, space, disease, parasitism, predation, and nesting sites.

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Video : Some Animals Are More Equal than Others: Keystone Species and Trophic Cascades

Instructions: Please watch the following video as many times as needed before starting to go through other lesson pages. Understanding the content of the video is very important since the lesson activities will be all about this video content.

Description: Watch this video to learn about "keystone" species and their role in an ecosystem.

Quiz : Understanding Trophic Cascades

Instructions: Please complete this quiz by choosing the correct answer for each question. You can take this quiz as many times needed.

Question #1

Which of these best describes the role of a producer in an ecosystem?

A) An animal that gets its energy from eating other animals.

B) An animal that gets its energy from eating plants, such as nuts, leaves, or berries.

C) A pond or water source that produces clean drinking water.

D) The organisms on the lowest part of the food chain that produce energy for other plants or animals.

Question #2

What idea was proposed by the Green World Hypothesis?

A) Herbivores will one day eat all of Earth's plants, making it no longer "green."

B) The world is green, or full of plant life, because predators keep herbivores in check.

C) The world will one day become overrun with plants, as herbivores cannot eat them fast enough.

D) Plants are the most important part of any ecosystem.

Question #3

What happened when Robert Paine removed starfish from their ecosystem?

A) The number of species on the rocks increased.

B) Nothing changed.

C) The number of species on the rocks decreased.

D) Every species on the rock went extinct.

Question #4

Which of these scientists is responsible for coining the term "keystone species"?

A) Robert Paine

B) Nelson Hairston

C) Charles Darwin

D) Lawrence Slobodkin

Question #5

What was the difference between tide pools with lots of urchins, and tide pools with less urchins?

A) The urchins in some tide pools were bigger than others.

B) The urchins in tide pools with kelp were different species.

C) There was more kelp in tide pools with many urchins.

D) The tide pools with lots of urchins had less kelp.

Question #6

Orca whales had an effect on the population of kelp.

A) True

B) False

Question #7

Most species have a large impact on the environment they are in.

A) True

B) False

Question #8

Keystone species are only found in the ocean.

A) True

B) False

Question #9

The title of the video is, "Some Animals Are More Equal than Others." Why are some animals "more equal" than others? Use an example from the video.

Student Response

Question #10

What is a keystone species, and how did they get that name?

Student Response

Resources : Additional Resources

Instructions: Please see additional external resources below. Feel free visit each link to learn more about this lesson.

Reading: Keystone Species

Activity: Modeling Trophic Cascades

Game: Food Chain Challenge

Description: Please check here for more information!

Standards: SC.7.L.17.1, SC.7.L.17.2, SC.7.L.17.3

Video : Some Animals Are More Equal than Others: Keystone Species and Trophic Cascades

Quiz : Understanding Trophic Cascades

Resources : Additional Resources