Ecosystem Structure & Vocabulary
The study of how living things interact with each other and their environment.
What is ecology?
A model that shows one pathway of energy flow between organisms.
What is a food chain?
The force that pulls objects toward each other.
What is gravity?
This is everything that exists, including all galaxies, stars, and planets.
What is the universe?
The closest star to Earth.
What is the Sun?
Nonliving parts of an ecosystem like water, sunlight, and temperature.
What are abiotic factors?
Organisms that break down dead matter and recycle nutrients.
What are decomposers?
An organism that eats other organisms for energy.
What is a consumer?
A system made up of a star and the objects that orbit it.
What is a solar system?
The path a planet takes as it moves around the sun.
What is an orbit?
An organism that makes its own food using sunlight.
What is a producer?
A symbiotic relationship where both organisms benefit.
What is mutualism?
This planet is known for its rings.
What is Saturn?
These are giant groups of stars, gas, and dust held together by gravity.
What are galaxies?
This is the correct order of the first four planets from the sun.
What is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars?
The largest level of organization that includes all ecosystems on Earth.
What is the biosphere?
A species that has a very large impact on its ecosystem, even if it is not very common.
What is a keystone species?
A relationship where one organism benefits and the other is not affected.
What is commensalism?
Stars can appear red, yellow, or blue depending on this.
What is temperature?
Why do tides happen on Earth?
What is because of the gravitational pull of the Moon (and the Sun)?
Put these in order from smallest to largest: organism, community, ecosystem, population
What is organism → population → community → ecosystem?
Why would removing a top predator from a food web cause problems?
It causes population imbalances and disrupts the ecosystem
What role do producers play in an ecosystem?
They make energy (food) for the rest of the ecosystem
A pattern of stars that forms a picture in the sky.
What is a constellation?
What is the difference between a meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite?
A meteoroid is in space, a meteor is in the atmosphere, and a meteorite has hit Earth