Vocabulary
Another word for a living thing.
Organism
What is a food web?
Many food chains connected together.
Give 2 examples of ecosystems.
Forest, ocean, pond, desert, etc...
Arrows show the flow of energy.
What type of organism eats both plants and animals?
omnivore
What type of organism is at the bottom of every food chain?
Producers (plants).
Define ecosystem.
A groups of organisms that live and interact with each other and their environment.
Where does a decomposer get its energy?
From dead plants and animals.
What is a decomposer?
An organism that breaks down dead organisms for energy.
How do plants in a food chain gain weight?
By absorbing carbon dioxide from the air, through small holes on their leaves, called stomata.
Why would a bird of prey, such as a a hawk, choose to live in a big city like New York city?
Cities have lots of pigeons. The hawk adapted to its environment and used skyscrapers like trees to perch and look for prey down below.
Where does a consumer get its energy?
From other living organisms.
Another word for plant-eater.
herbivore
What would happen if the producer was removed from a food chain?
Any herbivores would die, and any animals that eat those herbivores wouldn't have food to eat.
Why do you have to clean a fish tank, but not a pond?
Ponds have decomposers that help to break down dead plants and animals and animal waste. In a fish tank, you either need to buy a filter or include decomposers like snails or hermit crabs.
Name at least 3 things that may have contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
An asteroid hit earth, causing earthquakes, fires, tsunamis, and throwing so much dust and smoke into the air that it blocked out the sun for many years, causing plants to die, which then affected the entire food chain.
What is a producer?
The animal population that the apex predator hunts would grow too large.
How do plants contribute to a pond ecosystem? Give at least 2 reasons.
They are food for other animals, they release oxygen into the water, and they remove carbon dioxide from the water.
What types of organisms were best able to survive the mass extinction 65 million years ago, and why?
Small organisms that did not need to eat as much to survive, and decomposers that had plenty of dead things to eat.