Feeding Relationships Game Online
           
           
            
            
            
            
            
            This page features a feeding relationships game online. It is an interactive game that examines the relationship between organisms in an ecosystem. These linkages are called food chains and at higher levels food webs. In this quiz you will learn about producers, consumers and decomposers. You will also learn about primary and secondary consumers. This game is suitable for homeschooling and classrooms for students in 3rd to 7th grades.
           
           
            
           
           
             
           
           Food Chains and Feeding Relationships        Food chains and feeding  relationships show levels of organization in ecosystems. Producers produce food  by converting solar energy into glucose, which then feeds the rest of the food  chain. Consumers, in turn, consume plant matter as food. Together, these  interactions form the habitat food web. This article describes what food chains  and food relationships are and how they work. To better understand the  structure of a food web, consider what each species does for its community.        Using an ecological pyramid,  you can see how different organisms feed each other. At the bottom of the  pyramid are the producers, followed by the secondary consumers, the third-level  consumers, and so on. The top layer is the apex predator. Let's consider an  example; in the intertidal zone, feeding relationships begin with  phytoplankton, which produce energy through photosynthesis. This energy is then  used by zooplankton, a class of organisms that feed on phytoplankton. These in  turn feed on bivalves, barnacles and invertebrates.        The feeding relationship  between an infant and a parent is a complex process of interaction. From food  selection to food intake to regulatory behavior, feeding relationships are an  essential part of development. Hence, the food web can be used to explain the  feeding relationship between parent and child. This is important because it  teaches children how to feed themselves. If these rules are followed, the  feeding relationships between children and parents can promote good nutrition  and healthy development. If we want to better understand the complex  interactions between animals and children, we need to better understand the  role of nutrition in ecosystems.        There are five types of  feeding relationships: Mutualism, commensalism, symbiosis, and parasitism. Each  of these relationships has different characteristics, but they all relate to  interactions between organisms.  E.g. Parasitism is when an organism  (called a parasite) feeds on another organism and offers no benefit to that organism  in turn. A good example is a lice or tick that sticks on the body of a host and  sucks its blood throughout its existence.        Feeding relationships are an  important part of ecosystems. You can see them by looking at the food webs in  the Everglades ecosystem. The current quiz compares the differences and  similarities between food chains and food webs and shows you how the two  systems work.        In a food web, primary producers feed  consumer organisms. At the same time, there are also secondary consumers. These  organisms feed the autotrophic organisms in the food chain. The process of  ecological succession refers to changes in the structure of an ecological  community over time. After disturbance, colonization, or a change in species,  ecosystems change. They feed on each other.