Food chains show how energy moves in an ecosystem. We looked at foodchains in a marine ecosystem with kelp (rimurapa) , kina, snapper (tāmure) , crayfish (koura). We learnt about the importance of kelp in our ecosystem - did you know that seaweed and other marine plants produce over half the world's oxygen??!!Kina love to eat kelp, snapper and koura love to eat kina. Unfortunately, people also love to eat snapper and crayfish, and in some places overfishing happens, meaning the food chain gets out of balance and kina take over, eating all the kelp and causing kina barrens. There are many areas of kina barrens Tikapa Moana (the Hauraki Gulf).
We looked at the wonderful Young Ocean Explorers videos about all of these issues and thought of what could be done to keep our ecosystem balanced.
Lots of children chose to try out the 'learn to draw' series on Young Ocean Explorers - I sent photos of some of their pictures to YOE and they love them!
