Grassland Buffet: Studying Food Webs In The Grasslands And Savannas
Chain of Foods Earth’s life depends on sunlight food water and air Through photosynthesis green plants transform the Sun’s light energy into food energy a simple sugar they use to live and grow Plant eaters take this energy and pass it on to meat eaters The links showing the passage of energy form a food chain Because organisms are links in many food chains an area’s food chains compose a food web on This Chew Photosynthesis requires water carbon dioxide and chlorophyll a substance in green plants 4
The Sun’s energy moves through a food chain beginning with green plants and ending with animals 5
Grassland Connections An ecosystem includes all of the plants and animals in an area and their relationships with each other and their surroundings The climate and availability of resources like water food and shelter help determine the plant and animal species in an ecosystem Grasslands are named different things In Europe and Asia grasslands are called steppes In North America grasslands are called prairies 6
in different places like steppe prairie pampas and savanna Whatever the name grasslands consist of flat mostly treeless plains receiving 10 to 30 inches 25 to 75 cm yearly rainfall Any less rain produces deserts More moisture results in forests on This Chew Grasslands are located in the interior of continents often sandwiched between deserts and forests In South America grasslands are called pampas In Africa grasslands are called savannas 7
