5th Grade Oceanography Resource File: Sea-Life Food Web Activity

Standard 5.6
c) ecological characteristics

Create and interpret a model of a basic marine food web, including floating organisms (plankton), swimming organisms, and organisms living on the ocean floor.
Plankton are tiny free-floating organisms that live in water. Plankton may be animal-like or plant-like. Animal-like plankton are called zooplankton. Plant-like plankton (phtyoplankton) carry out most of the photosynthesis on Earth. Therefore, they provide much of Earth's oxygen. Phytoplankton form the base of the ocean food web. Plankton flourish in areas where nutrient-rich water upwells from the deep.

This webpage outlines the purpose, materials, background information, and procedure for a whole class activity. In this activity, students collaborate to create a sea-life food web using themselves, species cards, and yarn. Students will create a sample food web and see what happens if one of the links becomes broken.

Click to view "The Web of Life" activity from "Oceans Alive!"
Click to view the species cards used in this activity.
Link/File Type: Website