SCIENCE 8

Module 5/Week 5

Pass the Energy!

Most Essential Learning Competencies

Construct an energy pyramid and interpret how energy transfer takes place through trophic levels.

(S8LT-lVh-22)

To the Learner

The Writers

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 Expectations
You are given one week to work on this module. At the end of this module, you should
be able to:
1. Differentiate food chain, food web and ecological pyramid.

2. Construct a food chain, food web, and energy pyramid.

3. Interpret how energy transfer takes place through trophic levels.

Pretest
Directions: Analyze the diagram below. Choose the letter of the best answer. Write your answer on the
space before the number.

____1. Which organism is the producer?

a. eagle c. plant
b. mice d. snake
_____2. Which organism is the Secondary Consumer?
a. eagle c. plant
b. mice d. snake
_____3. Which of the following organism is the Third Consumer?
a. eagle c. plant
b. mice d. snake
_____4. Which of the following organism is the Primary Consumer?
a. eagle c. plant
b. mice d. snake
_____5. The diagram above shows an example of _____________?
a. ecological pyramid c. food chain
b. energy pyramid d. food web

Looking back

“Through High’s and Low’s”

Directions: Study the pictures below. List down the organisms that can be found in each picture, then
label which one depicts high and low biodiversity. Write your answer on the underline and table.

https://www.naturalworldsafaris.com/africa/indian-ocean/when-to-go/october

A. ________________________ B. __________________________

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 1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.

Brief Introduction
Organisms of different species can interact in many ways. They can compete, or they can be
symbionts or have mutualism relationship. They can do what we so often see in nature, and one of them
can eat the other. That is, they can form one of the links in a food chain.

For example, if you had a hamburger for lunch, you might be part of a food chain
that looks like this: grass →cow →human. But what if you had lettuce on your hamburger?
In that case, you are also part of a food chain that looks like this: lettuce →human.

As this example illustrates, we cannot always fully describe what an organism—such

as human eats with one linear pathway. For situations like the one above, we may want to
use a food web that consists of many intersecting food chains and represents the different things an
organism can eat and be eaten by.

In this lesson, we will take a closer look at food chains and food webs to see how they represent
the flow of energy and nutrients through ecosystems.

AUTOTROPHS AND HETEROTROPHS

Some organisms, called “autotrophs”, also known as self-
feeders, can make their own food—that is, their own organic compounds
out of simple molecules like carbon dioxide.
There are two basic types of autotrophs: The Photoautotrophs, such as
plants, use energy from sunlight to make organic compounds during
photosynthesis, and Chemoautotrophs use energy from chemicals to
build organic compounds out of carbon dioxide or similar molecules.

When we are talking about their role in food chains, we can refer
to autotrophs as producers.

On the other hand, “Heterotrophs”, also known as other feeders,

that cannot capture light or chemical energy to make their own food out
of carbon dioxide, so they take it from others. Heterotrophs therefore
are considered consumers.

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 FOOD CHAIN

A food chain is a linear sequence of organisms through which

nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another.

Figure 1: https://illumine.app/blog/explain-to-kids-food-chains/

Food chain starts with the producers. They are autotrophs such as plants,
algae, or cyanobacteria.

The organisms that eat the producers are called primary consumers. These are usually herbivores, plant-
eaters, though they may be algae eaters or bacteria eaters.

The organisms that eat the primary consumers are called secondary consumers. These are generally meat-
eaters or carnivores.
The organisms that eat the secondary consumers are called tertiary consumers. They are usually predators
such as: eagles, shark, or lion.

Activity 1
“Chain Meal”
Objective: Create a food chain showing the transfer of energy from the producer to tertiary consumer.
Directions: Make your own food chain using the diagram below by drawing or cutting out pictures
of the organisms of your choice, then label if it is a producer or consumer. Answer the guide questions
that follow.
Table 1.

______________________________________

______________ ______________ ______________ ______________

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 a. What does the arrow mean in a food chain? __________________________________________
b. Which organism is the autotroph of this food chain.? __________________________________
c. Which organism is the tertiary consumer? ___________________________________________
d. What is the ultimate source of energy that drives the food chain? _________________________
e. What will happen if all the primary consumer dies? ____________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

FOOD WEB

Food chains give us a clear-cut picture of who eats whom. However, some problems come up when
we try and use them to describe whole ecological communities.
For instance, an organism can sometimes eat multiple types of prey or be eaten by multiple
predators, including ones at different trophic levels. This is what happens when you eat a hamburger patty.
The cow is a primary consumer, and the lettuce leaf on the patty is a producer.
To represent these relationships more accurately, we can use a food web, a diagram that shows all
the possible eating relationship between various species in an ecosystem.

The diagram below shows an example of a food web:

Figure 2: https://desertoasisgarden.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/understanding-our-garden-better-with-a-food-web/

In food webs, arrows point from an organism that is eaten to the organism that eats it. It is a series
of multiple food chains. As the food web above shows, some species can eat organisms from more than one
trophic level. For example, a fox can eat both secondary and tertiary consumer.

In a food web, plants are the producers and the start of food web which we called the grazing food
web, but it can also start with the decomposers or detritivores and it is called detrital food web.

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 Activity 2
“We are Connected”

Objective: Analyze how energy transfer from different linkages of food chain.

Directions: Study the food web and answer the questions that follow.

Figure 3: socratic.org/questions/will-you-define-food-chain-food-web-and-food-pyramid

a. Which organism are the two producers in the food web?

____________________________________________________________________

b. Which organisms on the food web are the three primary consumers that you can identify?
________________________________________________________________________

c. What one food chain you can see through the food web?
________________________________________________________________________

d. What will happen if the group of mouse died?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

e. What is the role of grasshopper in this food web?

________________________________________________________________________

ENERGY PYRAMID

Energy pyramid also known as Ecological pyramid is a graphical representation, showing the flow
of energy at each trophic level or energy level in an ecosystem, but not all the energy generated or
consumed in one energy level will be available to the organisms in the next higher energy level.

At each level, some of the energy consumed is excreted as waste, some energy is changed to heat
(and therefore unavailable for consumption) during respiration, and some plants and animals die without
being eaten (meaning their energy is not passed on to the next consumer). The waste and dead matter are
broken down by decomposers and the nutrients are recycled into the soil to be taken up again by plants, but
most of the energy is changed to heat during this process.

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 On average, only about 10 percent of energy stored as biomass (renewable organic material that
comes from plants and animals to produce heat) in a trophic level is passed from one level to the next. This
is known as “the 10 percent rule” and it limits the number of trophic levels an ecosystem can support.

As an example, suppose the primary producers of an ecosystem store 20,000 kcal/m2/year of energy
as biomass. This is also the amount of energy per year that has made available to the primary consumers,
which eat the primary producers. The 10% rule would predict that the primary consumers store only 2,000
kcal/m2/year of energy in their own bodies, making energy available to their predators—secondary
consumers—at a lower rate.

Figure 4: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/highschool-biology/hs-ecology/trophic-levels/a/food-chains-and-food-webs-article

Activity 3

“What is my Level?
Objective: Create an energy pyramid and determine how much energy will be passed through each level.
Directions: Construct an energy pyramid with the primary producers of the ecosystem having 35,
600 kcal/m2 / year of energy stored as biomass using the Food web (figure 3) on activity 2. Draw or
write the name of organism inside the level on pyramid where they belong.

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 QUATERNARY CONSUMERS

TERTIARY CONSUMERS

SECONDARY CONSUMERS

PRIMARY CONSUMERS

PRODUCERS

Remember

• Producers, or autotrophs, make their own organic molecules. Consumers, or heterotrophs, get

organic molecules by eating other organisms.

• A food chain is a linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one

organism eats another.

• In a food chain, each organism occupies a different trophic level, defined by how many energy

transfers separate it from the basic input of the chain.

• Food webs consist of many interconnected food chains and are more realistic representation of

consumption relationships in ecosystems.

• Energy transfer between trophic levels is inefficient—with a typical efficiency around 10%. This

inefficiency limits the length of food chains.

• Ecological pyramids are visual representations of energy flow, biomass accumulation, and

number of individuals at different trophic level.

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Check Your Understanding

Directions: Complete the sentence below. Write your answer on the space provided.
The difference between food chain and food web is/are _________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________.

Each organism in trophic level consumes different amount energy because __________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________.

Post-Test
Directions: Read each question carefully. Choose the letter of the best answer. Write your answer on the
space before the number.

1. The picture at the right shows an energy pyramid. What will be most likely to happen to the foxes
and wolves if the rabbits are removed?

a. The foxes will eat fewer wolves.

b. The foxes will eat more wolves.
c. There will be more foxes and wolves.
d. There will be fewer foxes and wolves.

2. Which statement best describes the flow of energy as if passes through the organisms in the
pyramid?
a. Energy flows through the organisms from bottom of fop and increases at each level.
b. Energy flows through the organisms from bottom of fop and decreases at each level.
c. Energy flows through the organisms from top to bottom and increases at each level.
d. Energy flows through the organisms from top to bottom and decreases at each level.

3. Which of these organisms would most likely be found at the top of an energy pyramid?
a. algae c. sardines
b. clams d. sharks

4. A group of students in a fieldtrip observed the following organisms: an old tree, woodpecker bird,
squirrel, bee, and caterpillar. Which of the following food chain would likely to be found in this
ecosystem?
a. Caterpillar → bee →woodpecker
b. Beetle → woodpecker → squirrel
c. Oak tree → squirrel → woodpecker
d. Oak free → caterpillar →woodpecker

5. If animals eat plants to get energy, where do plants get their energy?
a. soil b. sun c. water d. wind

References: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/highschool-biology/hs-ecology/trophic-levels/a/food-chains-and-food-webs-article

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4th Quarter- Science
Module 5: Pass the Energy
Answer Sheet

Name: ___________________________________________ Score: __________

Grade 8- _______________

Pretest Looking Back

1. A.___________________ B. ___________________
2. 1. ___________________ 1. ___________________
3. 2. ___________________ 2. ___________________
4. 3. ___________________ 3. ___________________
5. 4. ___________________ 4. ___________________
5. ___________________ 5. ___________________

Activity 1: Chain Meal c. _____________________________________

d. _____________________________________
e. _____________________________________

Activity 2: We are Connected.

a. _____________________________________
b. _____________________________________
c. _____________________________________
d. _____________________________________
a._____________________________________ e. ____________________________________
b. _____________________________________
Activity 3: What is my Level? Post test
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

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