Which is a more realistic depiction of an ecosystem: a food web or a food chain? Explain.
What is a food web.
Mice, hawks, grasses, and snakes are all part of a food chain. Which living thing is at the beginning of this food chain?
What is the grasses (producer).
What is the primary source of ALL energy for ALL living things?
What is the sun?
grasshopper, sun, grass, hawk, snake.
What is: sun, grass, grasshopper, snake, hawk.
I break down organic material into the soil, providing nutrients for new life to form. What am I?
What is a decomposer?
The process in which humans practice decaying organic matter used to fertilize the soil.
What is composting?
Why is decomposition an important part of the food cycle?
Answers may vary:
Decomposition is needed to recycle dead remains back to the soil, to provide nutrients for new life.
I eat dead organisms but do not bring nutrients back to the earth. What am I?
What is a scavenger?
The process through which plants make their own food.
What is photosynthesis?
If a primary consumer dies out, what might happen to a secondary consumer in a food chain?
What is: the secondary consumer would have to ADAPT and find a new primary consumer to eat.
Why might a species die out?
Answers may vary:
global warming, deforestation, overfishing/overhunting, overharvesting, pollution, etc.