Decomposers and Matter Cycle Review

What breaks down dead plants and animals?

• soil

• decomposers

• oceans

• food chains

What are decomposers a part of?

• food chains

• plants

• animals

• nutrients

Which of the following is not a decomposer?

• worms

• mold

• bacteria

• hawk

How do fruit and vegetable scraps turn into fertilizer?

• Decomposers eat them.

• They are sent to a factory.

• They are put next to plants.

• They grow into new plants.

Which of the following probably would not give many nutrients to a compost pile?

• apple core

• peanut shells

• empty Doritos bag

• a watermelon rind

In a forest, why would a tree stump get smaller?

• Water washed it away over time.

• It disintegrated because of the wind.

• Mushrooms decomposed it.

• A bear knawed it into a stump.

What would help new plants grow in a forest?

• Decomposers putting nutrients back into the ground.

• Mushrooms and worms working as decomposers.

• Animals eating the plants.

• Scavengers eating dead animals.

A living thing that breaks down the remains of dead organisms is

• prey

• a decomposer

• a predator

• a carnivore

What two types of organisms get energy from the remains of once-living things?

• scavengers and decomposers

• living and nonliving

• decomposers and consumers

• consumers and producers

What do worms do in compost?

• Lower the temperature of the soil.

• Decompose the organic matter.

• Add water to the pile of scraps.

• Build nests to reproduce.