Ecosystem

decomposers

not all organisms are eaten by scavengers; instead their bodies begin to decay which breaks down into simpler materials; decomposers help with the process as well as air and water; all food chains end with decomposers; they help the environment from becoming overcrowded with dead plants and animals

sunlight

plants and animals depend on it; source of energy for all living things

photosynthesis

plants make their own food in a process called photosynthesis

Examples of living things in an ecosystem

plants: trees, flowers, grasses, bacteria; animals: birds, insects, humans

food chain

shows the path of food energy in an ecosystem; most food chains are only four to five links

model

something that stands for something else; a food chain is a model

first link of food chain

a producer which is plants

ecosystem

all of living and nonliving things (water, air, soil, light) that interact in an area like a forest; energy flows from the sun to producers and then from producers to consumers; can be big or small; is made up of many habitats

community

all of the living things in an ecosystem

population

all the members of one kind of plant or animal; there are different populations in a community

pollinator

an animal that helps plants make seeds is called a pollinator; they feed on the pollen and nectar they find on flowers; as they feed they carry pollen from flower to flower

predator

an animal that hunts other animals for food is called a predator

second link of food chain

an animal that is a herbivore (eats plants)

prey

an animal that is hunted; animal can be both predator and prey

producer

an organism that makes its own food; the food that plants make is used for energy by organisms that eat the plant; each producer uses sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide from the air to make food; give us oxygen to breathe: when producers use sunlight to make food, they give off oxygen; that puts the oxygen we need into the air; most producers are plants: grasses, shrubs, trees; algae, bacteria

animals

animals including people cannot produce their own food from sunlights as plants can; all animals are consumers

scavengers

animals that feed on the remains or wastes of other animals (e.g. vultures); they are consumers; they are an important part of the ecosystem

third & fourth link of food chain

carnivores (eat meat) or omnivores (eat meat & plants); the further the link from the producers, the less energy there is available

herbivore

consumers that eat only or mostly plants (=producers), e.g. mice, rabbits, deer, many insects, cows, zebras, elephants

food web

each plant or animal is part of more than one food chain; when two or more food chains overlap, they form a food web; most ecosystems have many different kind of producers and consumers and decomposers

carnivore

eat only or mostly animals, e.g. on land: cats, foxes, hawks, lions, wolves and eagles; in the ocean: sharks, walruses, seals and octopuses

omnivore

eats both plants and animals, e.g. pigs, bears, raccoons and humans

environment

everything that surrounds and affects a living thing; a living thing will only survive in an environment that meets its needs

habitat

home or the place where a certain kind of living things spend its life

organism

living thing like plants and animals; all organisms need energy to survive; they get that from the food they eat

interdependence

living things in an ecosystem depend on one another for basic needs such as food, shelter, and protection. Example: Plants can be a shelter for animals; in turn, animals can provide protection for plants

plants

use energy from sunlight to make food

Examples of nonliving things in an ecosystem

water, sunlight, soil, rocks, minerals, air; also conditions like: temperature, amount of rainfall, amount of sunlight

consumers

when an animal eats a plant, energy is transferred from the plant to the animal; animals are consumers; consumers use the energy to live; to consume means to eat; a living thing that gets energy by eating other living things

Examples of decomposers

worms, fungi, mold, mushrooms, bacteria; insects; they release nutrients that plants and animals need to survive