7 Jurassic Food Chains-Mid

Jurassic Food Chains FOCUS Question How do extinct food chains compare to food chains of today?

侏罗纪食物链焦点问题灭绝的食物链与今天的食物链相比如何?

The Jurassic Period Imagine if you could open a door and suddenly step into the time of dinosaurs. You would find a very different world. The Jurassic Period was a time in Earth's history that lasted from about 200 to 145 million years ago. The air was hot and moist, similar to the air in today's Amazon rainforest. Pangaea—a single, huge continent—was breaking apart into the continents we know today. Earth was very different during the Jurassic Period. But just like today, the plants and animals that lived during that time belonged to food chains. Living things were either producers or consumers, and each represented a link in a now-extinct food chain.

想象一下，如果你打开一扇门，突然就进入了恐龙时代。 你会发现一个完全不同的世界。 侏罗纪时期是地球历史上的一段时间，从大约2亿年前持续到1.45亿年前。 那里的空气又热又湿，与今天亚马逊雨林的空气相似。 盘古大陆——一块巨大的大陆——分裂成我们今天所知道的大陆。 侏罗纪时期的地球非常不同。 但就像今天一样，生活在那个时期的植物和动物属于食物链。 生物要么是生产者，要么是消费者，每一种都代表着现已灭绝的食物链中的一环。

Jurassic Life During the Jurassic Period moist air, fertile soil, and strong sunlight produced thick jungles that covered vast areas of Earth. Plants called cycads (SY-kadz) were especially common. Lush plant life (producers) supported large plant-eating dinosaurs. Insects were abundant. They provided food for mouselike creatures that lived in dense forests. In the late Jurassic Period, the feathered dinosaur, Archaeopteryx, took to the skies. It was a consumer that ate lizards, frogs, and beetles. Jurassic oceans were warm and teeming with life. Microscopic plankton provided food for fish and many other sea creatures. Coral reefs grew in the warm waters, and snails, mollusks, and fish flourished. Top predators, such as paddle-finned plesiosaurs and giant marine crocodiles, ruled the sea.

侏罗纪时期潮湿的空气、肥沃的土壤和强烈的阳光造就了茂密的丛林，覆盖了地球的大部分地区。 苏铁(SY-kadz)尤其常见。 茂盛的植物生命(生产者)支持了大型食草恐龙。 昆虫很多。它们为生活在茂密森林中的类似老鼠的生物提供了食物。 在侏罗纪晚期，有羽毛的恐龙始祖鸟飞上了天空。 这是一个吃蜥蜴、青蛙和甲虫的消费者。 侏罗纪的海洋温暖且充满生命。 微小的浮游生物为鱼类和许多其他海洋生物提供了食物。 珊瑚礁在温暖的海水中生长，蜗牛、软体动物和鱼类大量繁殖。 顶级掠食者，如桨鳍蛇颈龙和巨型海洋鳄鱼，统治着海洋。

Links in the Chain The structure of food chains during the Jurassic Period was similar to modern-day food chains. Each living thing had a niche (can rhyme with hitch or leash)—a specific role within the environment. Some were producers that provided energy to primary consumers. Small primary consumers ate plants low to the ground. Taller herbivores ate leaves high in the treetops. Secondary consumers. were predators they ate primary consumers, The top predators ate many types of consumers so they influenced many food chains. Let's learn about a few Jurassic animals and the niche that each one occupied in its own food chain. Do You Know? Scientists are able to infer what dinosaurs ate by examining fossil skulls and teeth. Plant eaters had short. flat teeth designed for grinding up leaves and other vegetable matter. Meat eaters had strong. sharp teeth suited for tearing flesh.

侏罗纪时期的食物链结构与现代的食物链相似。 每一种生物都有一个生态位(可以与hitch或皮带押韵)——在环境中的特定角色。 有些是为主要消费者提供能源的生产者。 小的初级消费者吃低到地面的植物。 高大的食草动物吃高在树梢的叶子。 次级消费者。作为掠食者，它们吃主要的消费者，顶级掠食者吃很多类型的消费者，所以它们影响了很多食物链。 让我们来了解一些侏罗纪动物，以及每一种动物在自己的食物链中所占据的位置。 你知道吗?科学家们能够通过检查头骨和牙齿化石来推断恐龙吃什么。 食草动物有短。用来磨碎树叶和其他植物物质的扁平齿。 肉食者很强壮。锋利的牙齿适合撕肉。

Primary Consumers Some of the largest animals to ever live were sauropod (SORE-uh-pod) dinosaurs of the Jurassic Period. One such dinosaur was Brachiosaurus (BRACK-ee-uh-SORE-us). This massive creature stood up to 16 meters (52 ft.) tall and was 26 meters (85 ft.) long. An adult could weigh more than 75,000 kilograms (165,000 lb.) For comparison, the largest elephant weighs "only" 7,000 kg (15,000 lb.). Brachiosaurus had a long neck that allowed it to eat vegetation from the tops of lush trees such as tree ferns and cycads. Despite its enormous size, this dinosaur most likely traveled in herds for protection from predators.

一些曾经生活过的最大的动物是侏罗纪时期的蜥脚类恐龙。 腕龙就是这样一种恐龙。 这个巨大的生物站立起来高达16米(52英尺)，长26米(85英尺)。 一头成年大象的体重可能超过75000公斤(165000磅)，相比之下，最大的大象“只有”7000公斤(15000磅)。 腕龙的脖子很长，这让它可以吃到茂密树木顶部的植物，比如蕨类植物和苏铁。 尽管体型巨大，但这种恐龙很可能是为了躲避捕食者而成群结队。

Stegosaurus (STEG-uh-SORE-us) was a large dinosaur that weighed about 4,500 kilograms (10,000 lb.). It was an herbivore that fed on plants close to the ground. Because it had a short neck, it most likely ate mosses, ferns, and low-growing cycads. Along its back, this dinosaur had a double row of plates; no one knows the purpose. Perhaps they protected the animal from meat- eating secondary consumers. Do You Know? Dinosaurs were the dominant land animals during the Jurassic Period. But hiding among the leaf litter on the forest floor were small. furry mammals that ate insects.

剑龙(STEG-uh-SORE-us)是一种大型恐龙，重约4500公斤(10,000磅)。 它是一种食草动物，以靠近地面的植物为食。 因为它的脖子很短，所以它很可能吃苔藓、蕨类植物和低矮的苏铁。 在它的背部，这种恐龙有两排盘子;没有人知道其目的。 也许他们保护了动物免受吃肉的次要消费者的侵害。 你知道吗?恐龙是侏罗纪时期占统治地位的陆地动物。 但是在森林地面上的落叶中藏着一些小东西。 吃昆虫的毛茸茸的哺乳动物。