Lesson 2 Producers
What is an ecosystem
All the living and nonliving things that interact in an area.
Define Consumer
An organism that gets energy by eating other organisms.
Define Decomposer
an organism that breaks down dead organisms and their wastes.
Define Food Chain
A model showing the path of energy through a series of organisms in an ecosystem.
Define Prey
The animal that is captured and eaten
Define Producers
The parts of an ecosystem that capture energy in the sunlight. OR any organism that makes it own food.
Define Digestion
The process that breaks down food into simple materials that an animal's body can use.
Define Fungi
A group of organisms that are not plants or animals that act as decomposers. Mold is an example.
Define Energy Pyramid
A model that shows the amount of energy that is passed on at each level of a food chain.
Define Predator
An animal that captures and eats other animals
A gas found in the air that is used to make food by photosynthesis.
Carbon Dioxide
Define Circulation
The process of moving blood in a large complicated loop through the body.
Define Bacteria
One group of organisms that are too small to be seen with a microscope. Many kinds of bacteria are decomposers.
Define Food Web
A diagram that shows the many connected food chains and feeding relationships in an ecosystem.
Define Distrubance
An event that changes an ecosystem for a long period of time. Can be caused by humans or natural processes.
Define photosynthesis
The process that producers use to make food from carbon dioxide and water.
Excess food is stored in the body as...
Animals store extra energy in the form of...
Fat and Sugar
Define Compost
A mixture of soil and decaying matter that provides the materials plants need.
Define Invasive Species
A non-native kind of organism that causes harm to an ecosystem.
Define Succession
The slow changes that take place in an ecosystem that has been disturbed.
Define Oxygen
A gas found in the air that is produced as waste during photosynthesis.
Name the four layers of the rainforest bottom to top
Forest Floor, Understory, Canopy, Emergent Layer.
What is the difference between living and non living things. Provide an example for each.
Living things change, grow and need nutrients. Non-living things dont.
What are the similarities and differences between a food chain, food web, and energy pyramid.
Similarities: They all show relationships between producers and consumers.
Differences: Food chains show feeding relationships in single line. Food web is all food chains together. Energy pyramid shows energy lost at each stage.
It begins with pioneer species, then intermediate species, then finally climax species.