Lessons 5-1, 5-2, & 5-3 (Ecosystems)

Front

What is an ecosystem?

Back

An ecosystem is a community of living things (plants, animals, and microorganisms) interacting with each other and their nonliving environment (like water, soil, and air).

Front

What is a habitat?

Back

A habitat is the natural environment where a living thing lives and grows. It provides food, shelter, and everything else an organism needs to survive.

Front

What is a population?

Back

A population is all the living things of the same kind that live in the same place at the same time.

Front

What is a community in an ecosystem?

Back

A community is made up of all the different populations of living things that live together in a particular area.

Front

What is a food chain?

Back

A food chain shows how energy is transferred from one living thing to another in an ecosystem, starting with a producer and moving up to consumers.

Front

What is a producer?

Back

A producer is a living thing, like a plant, that makes its own food using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.

Front

What is a consumer?

Back

A consumer is a living thing that eats other living things for energy. Examples include animals that eat plants or other animals.

Front

What is a decomposer?

Back

A decomposer is an organism, like fungi or bacteria, that breaks down dead plants and animals, returning nutrients to the soil.

Front

How does a drought affect an ecosystem?

Back

A drought can lead to a lack of water, causing plants to die and affecting the animals that rely on those plants for food and shelter.

Front

What is an interaction between living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem?

Back

An interaction occurs when a living thing, like a worm, uses nonliving parts, like soil, for shelter.