A hawk eats a snake. The snake ate a mouse, and the mouse ate grass seeds. Where did the energy in the hawk's meal originally come from?

Caterpillars chew the leaves of an oak tree. A songbird eats the caterpillars, and a bobcat catches and eats the songbird. Where did the energy in the bobcat's meal originally come from?

A student draws a food chain model with an arrow carrying energy from the fox back to the grass. What is wrong with this model?

The energy a lion uses to chase its prey can be traced back to sunlight.

In a pond food chain, algae are eaten by tiny shrimp, the shrimp are eaten by small fish, and the fish are eaten by a heron. Where did the energy in the heron's meal originally come from?

In a vegetable garden, a slug chews lettuce leaves. A toad eats the slug, and a garter snake eats the toad. Where did the energy in the garter snake's meal originally come from?

A boy eats a hamburger made from beef. The cattle that the beef came from ate grass in a pasture. Where did the energy in his meal start?

A meadow food chain runs grass, grasshoppers, frogs, hawks. Why can the meadow support many thousands of grasshoppers but only a few hawks?

Two identical bean plants got the same water. The one in a sunny window gained 12 grams, and the one in a dark closet gained 1 gram. A mouse eats beans from the sunny plant, and an owl then eats the mouse. Where did the energy in the owl's meal come from?

A rabbit eats grass every day, and a fox then eats the rabbit. The fox uses the energy from that meal to grow, move, and stay warm. Where did the energy the fox uses start?

A spider catches and eats a fly. The fly had earlier sipped nectar from a flower. Where did the energy in the spider's meal begin?

Almost all of the energy used by the plants and animals living in a meadow can be traced back to one source. What is that source?

An owl eats a shrew. The shrew had eaten a beetle, and the beetle had chewed the leaves of a plant. Which living thing first captured the energy the owl now uses?

Green plants use sunlight to make their own food. What happens to that energy once the food has been made?

A rancher claims that the energy in her cattle came from the Sun. What observation best supports her claim?

Tiny drifting algae in the ocean are eaten by small animals, which are then eaten by fish. Why do these algae live in the upper water instead of the deep ocean?

Sea otters eat sea urchins, and the urchins eat kelp, a large seaweed that grows in sunlit water. Where did the energy in the otter's meal originally come from?

A farmer's chickens eat corn, and a fox eats a chicken. If the corn crop fails one year, what happens to the energy reaching the fox?

In a stream, algae are eaten by mayfly larvae, the larvae are eaten by minnows, and the minnows are eaten by a kingfisher. Which living thing in this chain first captured the energy the kingfisher uses?

The energy an owl uses to fly at night entered its food chain when a plant captured sunlight.