Desert Biome Food Web - Cut and Paste Worksheet | Teach Starter - Free Printable

To solve this problem, we need to build a food web. A food web shows how energy moves from one living thing to another. The arrows always point in the direction of the energy flow—meaning they point from the thing being eaten to the animal that eats it.

Here is the step-by-step logic to connect these desert animals and plants:

Step 1: Identify the Producers (Plants)

Producers make their own food using sunlight. In this list, the producers are:
* Cactus
* Fluff grass

Since they are at the bottom of the food chain, arrows will only point away from them. Nothing eats the sun, so no arrows point to them.

Step 2: Identify the Primary Consumers (Herbivores)

These animals eat plants. Let's look at what eats the Cactus and Fluff grass:
* Ant: Eats seeds and plant parts (Fluff grass).
* Wood rat: Eats seeds and cactus fruits (Cactus, Fluff grass).
* Fennec fox: Often eats plants, roots, and berries (Cactus, Fluff grass), though they also eat meat.

Step 3: Identify the Secondary Consumers (Carnivores/Omnivores)

These animals eat the herbivores or other small animals.
* Lizard: Eats insects like ants.
* Scorpion: Eats insects like ants.
* Tarantula: Eats insects (ants) and sometimes small lizards.
* Fennec fox: Eats insects (ants, scorpions), lizards, and wood rats.

Step 4: Identify the Tertiary/Top Consumers

These are the big predators that eat other carnivores or large herbivores.
* Rattlesnake: Eats wood rats and sometimes lizards.
* Red-tailed hawk: This is a top predator. It eats wood rats, snakes, lizards, and sometimes foxes.

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Building the Connections (The Arrows)

Now, let's draw the specific arrows based on who eats whom:

From Plants:
1. Fluff grass → Ant (Ants eat grass/seeds)
2. Fluff grass → Wood rat (Rats eat grass/seeds)
3. Cactus → Wood rat (Rats eat cactus)
4. Cactus → Fennec fox (Foxes eat cactus fruit)

From Insects (Ant):
5. Ant → Lizard (Lizards eat ants)
6. Ant → Scorpion (Scorpions eat ants)
7. Ant → Tarantula (Tarantulas eat ants)
8. Ant → Fennec fox (Foxes eat ants)

From Small Animals (Lizard, Scorpion, Tarantula, Wood Rat):
9. Lizard → Red-tailed hawk (Hawks eat lizards)
10. Lizard → Rattlesnake (Snakes eat lizards)
11. Scorpion → Fennec fox (Foxes eat scorpions)
12. Tarantula → Fennec fox (Foxes may eat tarantulas) *Note: Sometimes tarantulas are just left as eating ants, but foxes are known to eat them.*
13. Wood rat → Rattlesnake (Snakes eat rats)
14. Wood rat → Red-tailed hawk (Hawks eat rats)
15. Wood rat → Fennec fox (Foxes eat rats)

From Mid-Level Predators (Rattlesnake, Fennec Fox):
16. Rattlesnake → Red-tailed hawk (Hawks eat snakes)
17. Fennec fox → Red-tailed hawk (Large hawks can prey on fennec foxes)

*(Note: In simpler school models, you might not include every single connection, but these are the biologically correct ones for a desert biome.)*

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Paragraph Explanation (for the back of the paper)

Flow of Energy:
Energy in the desert food web starts with the sun, which helps plants like the cactus and fluff grass grow. These plants are called producers. When primary consumers like the ant and wood rat eat the plants, they get that energy. Then, secondary consumers like the lizard, scorpion, and fennec fox eat the ants and rats to get energy. Finally, top predators like the rattlesnake and red-tailed hawk eat the smaller animals. At each step, energy is passed from the food to the eater, allowing them to live and grow.

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Final Answer:

Food Web Connections (Draw arrows pointing FROM the first item TO the second):

1. Fluff grass → Ant
2. Fluff grass → Wood rat
3. Cactus → Wood rat
4. Cactus → Fennec fox
5. Ant → Lizard
6. Ant → Scorpion
7. Ant → Tarantula
8. Ant → Fennec fox
9. Lizard → Red-tailed hawk
10. Lizard → Rattlesnake
11. Scorpion → Fennec fox
12. Wood rat → Rattlesnake
13. Wood rat → Red-tailed hawk
14. Wood rat → Fennec fox
15. Rattlesnake → Red-tailed hawk
16. Fennec fox → Red-tailed hawk

Paragraph for the back of the page:
"The flow of energy begins with the producers, the cactus and fluff grass, which create energy from the sun. Primary consumers, such as the ant and wood rat, eat these plants to gain energy. Secondary consumers, including the lizard, scorpion, tarantula, and fennec fox, eat the primary consumers. Finally, tertiary consumers like the rattlesnake and red-tailed hawk eat the secondary consumers and larger primary consumers. The red-tailed hawk is at the top of this food web because it has no natural predators in this group."