food chains ,food webs,energy pyramid in ecosystems-video for kids
Science
kids educational video of food chains,food webs, and energy pyramid in ecosystems
Hey, lucky man. Can you give a bite to me? If I tell you something about pizza and food, would you give a piece? Okay, tell me, do you know where all food comes from? Wow. You are right. We humans get all our food from animals and plants. Let me tell you more about food. Plants are only living species who make their own food. They use sunlight, carbon dioxide from air and water from soil to make their food. This process is called photosynthesis. So now you know plants make their own food. All other species like animals and we humans are dependent on plants. Now see, a giraffe is coming. It is eating the plant. Species who only eat plant are called herbivores. Oh, what is happening? A lion is coming. Oh, it is attacking the giraffe. Oh, it has killed the giraffe and is eating it. Species which eat other animals are called carnivores. So you have seen plants make their own food. Other animals eat plants and some other animals eat those animals who eat plants. So all are dependent on plants.
This is also called food chain. It starts from plants. In food chain, plants are known as producers as they produce food. The species who eat plants are called primary consumers, and the species who eat species dependent on plants are called secondary consumers. Now, there is one more part of this food chain. These are fungi and bacteria in soil. When animals die, these fungi and bacteria in soil decompose their dead bodies. They become nutrients. These nutrients again are used by plants to make food. See here, when Lion dies, its body is decomposed in soil by bacteria and fungi, and it turns into nutrients. Then, these are again used by plants. These fungi and bacteria are called decomposers. Decomposers are important part of food chain. Let us see other food chain. Here, rat eats acorns fruit, which comes from plant, and snake eats rats, eagle eats rat. Eagle dies, it gets decomposed and plants use decomposed nutrients to produce fruit. The food chains which we saw, which have one producer, one primary consumer, and one secondary consumer are called simple food chains. Actually, life is not so simple. Look at this picture. This is very complex. Look at the rat, it can be eaten by cat also, or it may be eaten by snake. Plant can be eaten by goat or by rabbit. These kind of complex food chains are called food web, as they are very interconnected, like a spider web. So now you know a lot about food, food chain, and food web.
Now can you give me a piece? Thank you. I was so tired and hungry. I wanted energy to continue. Do you know why we need food? Okay, okay. You know we need food to get energy. Energy is required by living being for growth, also for movement. We need energy. Similarly, when species reproduce, they need energy. Also, as grow up or grow old, our old tissues get damaged or new cells are produced, this process also needs energy. Now, from where this energy come from, most of the living species use sun's energy. This energy is transferred to body via food they eat. Sun gives light energy, which is used by plants to make their food by photosynthesis. These plants are eaten by primary consumers and energy is transferred to them. Now secondary consumers eat these primary consumers and energy is transferred to them too. So does giraffe get all the energy from plant which plant gets from sun or does lion gets all energy from giraffe, which giraffe gets from plant? The answer is no. Actually, 90% energy is lost when it passes from one part of chain to other. Like 90% energy is lost when giraffe eats plant.
Similarly, 90% energy is lost between Lion and giraffe. Look at this pyramid. It is called energy pyramid. This shows that energy available becomes lesser and lesser as we move on the top of food chain. To understand energy pyramid, let's assume plants absorb 1000 units of energy from sun. When giraffe eats it 90% energy is lost, so giraffe only gets 10% of energy. This means energy transfer from plant to giraffe is a 105 of a thousand units of plant energy, which is 100 units. Now when lion eats giraffe, 90% energy is again lost and lion gets only ten units of energy. So now you know more about food and energy. Can you give me one more bite? Please give me one more bite. You already have so much energy. I need more food to get more energy. Sorry, man.