Plants for Food
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Food chains
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A food chain shows where the energy goes in a food chain (in other words, “what gets eaten by what”):
Cabbage
Rabbit
Stoat
Fox
The arrows indicate where the energy is going
Plants convert the sun’s energy into food
Plants are called “producers” – they “produce” the energy for the rest of the food chain through photosynthesis.
Using plants for food
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Fruits and seeds
Roots
Leaves
Stems
Helping plants to grow
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Advantages
Farmers can use a number of chemicals to help plants to grow:
1) Fertilisers
2) Herbicides
3) Pesticides
Disadvantages
Disrupt food chains
Provide nutrients
NPK
Too much of it can kill pond life
Kill weeds
Kill pests
Disrupt food chains
Another disadvantage of pesticides
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Insecticides can wash into a stream or lake where they are taken up by microscopic water plants. Consider the food chain:
Although the level of insecticides in the plants is small, it will build up through the food chain due to the number of organisms in each stage.
Small plants
Kingfisher
Marine insects
Fish