Vocabulary
A community of living and nonliving things that work together
ecosystem
The beginning of a food chain
Producers
The role that a species plays in its environment to help keep the ecosystem in balance
niche
Explain how producers capture the suns energy to pass it along to the rest of the food chain
They do photosynthesis - the process by which plants use light energy to make sugar.
This branch of science studies the relationship between living things and their environment.
ecology
Explain the difference between biotic factors and abiotic factors.
Biotic factors are the living things in an ecosystem and abiotic factors are the nonliving things in the ecosystem.
On which level of a food chain do you usually find carnivores that eat other carnivores?
tertiary consumers
What three things do habitats provide for organisms?
What is a symbiotic relationship?
A close relationship between two different kinds of organisms
Where does the energy in a food chain come from originally?
the sun! :)
Explain the difference between autotrophs and heterotrophs.
Autotrophs - Organisms that make their own food, also known as producers
Heterotrophs - Organisms that do not make their own food, also known as consumers
Explain the role that scavengers and decomposers play in a food chain.
Scavengers break down the bodies of dead animals and then decomposers further break them down to help put nutrients back in the soil where healthy producers can grow.
Biomes are large areas of the world that share what four things in common?
climate, landscapes, animals, plants
Explain the difference between predators and prey, and give two predator-pray relationship examples from the wild.
Predators are animals that kills and eats other animals.
Prey are animals that are killed and eaten by other animals.
Example: fox eats rabbit, wolf eats deer
Explain why predators and prey are both necessary in order for an ecosystem to survive.
They help keep an ecosystem in balance. If one population of animals becomes too high or low, it can affect all the other levels on the food chain. Ex: loss of life around Pride Rock in the Lion King
Explain the difference between a food chain and a food web. Which one more accurately reflects the relationships in an ecosystem?
Describes who eats who in an ecosystem to obtain nutrients and energy in order to live. A food web does the same but shows how many food chains overlap in an ecosystem.
A food web shows a more accurate picture.
Explain the difference between herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores, and give one example of each.
Carnivore - Animals who eat only other animals (lion, hyena, eagle)
Omnivore - Animals or people who eat both animals and plants (bear, people, squirrel)
Herbivore - Animals who eat only plants (giraffe, horse, rabbit)
Draw a trophic pyramid and correctly label all of the levels. Include one example of an animal that would fit in each level in a real food chain.
Answer should include producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer
Explain the difference between mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism.
Mutualism - A symbiotic relationship that helps both organisms
Parasitism - A symbiotic relationship that helps one organism and hurts the other organism
Commensalism - A symbiotic relationship that helps one organism and doesn’t affect the other organism
Explain why the amount of energy becomes less at each level of the trophic pyramid.
A lot of energy is lost and only about 10% of the energy stored in an organism is passed on to the consumer who eats it.