Vocabulary
An organism that makes its own food using sunlight, usually through photosynthesis.
What is a producer?
A relationship where one organism (the predator) hunts and eats another (the prey).
What is predation?
A relationship where both organisms benefit.
What is mutualism?
What do producers use to make food
Sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water.
A statement that answers a question or explains a phenomenon.
What is a claim in science?
An organism that breaks down dead matter and recycles nutrients into the soil (e.g., fungi, bacteria).
What is a decomposer.
When organisms fight for the same resources like food, water, or shelter.
What is competition in ecosystems
A bird building a nest in a tree—the bird gets a home, and the tree isn’t hurt
What is a commensalism example?
The ultimate source of energy for most ecosystems
What is the sun?
Data or observations that support a claim.
What is evidence?
An organism that gets energy by eating other organisms.
What is a consumer?
In parasitism, one organism benefits and the other is harmed; in mutualism, both benefit.
How does parasitism differ from mutualism
Predators keep prey populations from getting too big.
How do predators and prey affect each other?
Less energy is passed on. Only a little gets to the next animal.
What happens to energy as it moves up the food chain?
Explaining why your evidence proves your claim, using science ideas.
What is reasoning in science?
All the living and nonliving things in a place that work together.
What is an ecosystem?
They compete, and sometimes one has to leave or change.
What happens when two animals want the same food?
When two living things live close together and affect each other.
What is a symbiotic relationship?
They break down dead stuff and return nutrients to the soil.
What do decomposers do in nature?
Evidence is the data. Reasoning explains how it proves your answer.
What’s the difference between evidence and reasoning?
What is a trophic level?
A level in the food chain that shows who eats what and where energy goes.
What happens when two animals need the same food in the same place?
One animal may get more food, and the other may have to move or eat something else.
How can people change how animals and plants live together?
People can hurt nature by cutting trees, building cities, or polluting water and air.
Why are top predators important?
They help keep the food chain balanced by eating animals that might become too many.
Write a claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER): A plant grows more with sunlight than without it.
Claim: Plants grow better with sunlight.
Evidence: The plant with sunlight grew taller than the one in shade.
Reasoning: Sunlight helps plants make food through photosynthesis, which helps them grow. |