Food chains and Energy
The main source of energy for most ecosystems
Sunlight
Organisms that make their own food using sunlight
Producers
Living and nonliving things interacting in a specific area
Ecosystem
Organisms that break down dead plants and animals
Decomposers
In a food chain, arrows show the direction of this
Energy flow
An animal that eats only plants
Herbivore
The living parts of an ecosystem
Biotic factors
Fungi and bacteria are common examples of these
Decomposers
A diagram showing many connected food chains
Food web
An animal that eats only other animals
Sunlight, water, and temperature are examples of these
Abiotic factors
When one organism hunts and eats another organism
Predation
This pyramid shows how energy decreases at each trophic level
Energy pyramid
An organism that eats both plants and animals
Omnivore
All members of one species living in the same area
Population
The organism that is hunted and eaten
Prey
Only about this percentage of energy moves to the next trophic level
Consumers that eat producers are called this type of consumer
Primary consumers
All the different populations living together in one area
Community
If predators disappear from an ecosystem, this population usually increases
Prey population