Healthy Ecosystems
Interactions in Ecosystems
Organisms Depend on a Healthy Environment
Vocabulary
Extra Stuff
100
Any living thing found in the environment
What is biotic (element)
100

A model that shows how food chains in an ecosystem are connected

What is food web

100
A series of gradual changes that result in the replacement of one community of plants and animals by another
What is succession
100
The environment where an organism lives
What is habitat
100
Sunlight, air, water, and food
What are the basic needs of organisms
200
A group of populations of different species in a given area
What is community
200
A system in which the amount of matter remains constant over time
What is closed system
200
A species that has been introduced in an area where it did not exist before and often replaces some of the original species
What is invasive species
200
An organism that eats other animals only
What is carnivore
200
Feeding on any remaining decayed matter and waste left behind by consumers and detrivores, and breaking these parts down into simpler substances
What is the way decomposers recycle nutrients within ecosytems
300
An interaction between individuals of different species that benefits both individuals
What is mutualism
300
A model that shows the number of individuals at each level in a food chain or food web
What is pyramid of numbers
300
The variety of plant and animal life in an ecosystem
What is biodiversity
300
Something that can be maintained and used indefinitely
What is sustainable
300
Competition, predation, farming (spraying pesticides), climate, type of soil, level of pollutants, parasites etc.
What is: factors that can limit the number of living things in a given ecosystem
400
The study of relationships between organisms, and between organisms and their environment
What is ecology
400
An organism that feeds on large parts of decaying plant and animal matter and on waste material
What is detrivore
400
A person who carefully manages a resource by taking responsibility for their actions and educating others
What is steward
400
A process by which plants use water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight to produce sugars
What is photosynthesis
400
Dandelion, aphid, ladybug, robin and hawk
What is a food chain
500
A substance that an organism needs to grow and maintain its body
What is nutrient
500
An organism that makes its own food from non-living materials
What is producer
500
Comparing human demand on nature with the ability of Earth's ecosystems to regenerate those resources
What is ecological footprint
500
An organism that consumes and breaks down dead organisms or waste matter into simple substances
What is decomposer
500
I make my own food, but then I get eaten :(
What is a difference between producers and consumers
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