A Tangled Web Definitions
Producer
An organism that can produce its own food through photosynthesis.
Examples include plants, phytoplankton and cyanobacteria
Autotroph
An organism that can make its own food through photosynthesis.
Examples include plants, phytoplankton and cyanobacteria
Heterotroph
An organism that cannot make its own food, and must eat other
organisms. Examples include cows, wolves, zooplankton and fungi.
Consumer
An organisms that cannot produce its own food through photosynthesis,
and must eat other organisms. Examples include cows, wolves,
zooplankton and fungi.
Herbivore
An animal that eats plants.
Carnivore
An animal that eats other animals (meat).
Omnivore
An animal that eats both plants and animals.
Decomposer
Organisms that recycle dead things through decay. Examples include
bacteria, worms and fungi.
Detritus
Dead organic matter. Organic in this case means once living.
Ecosystem
The populations in an area interacting with each other, and interacting
with their environment.
Abiotic Factors
Non-living things in an environment. Examples include, temperature,
amount of rainfall, type of soil.
Biotic Factors
Living things in an environment. Examples include plants, animals, fungi
and bacteria.
Scavenger
Animals that eat dead animals. Examples include vultures and crabs.
Predator
Animals that actively hunt other animals for food. Examples include
sharks and lions.
Population
All of the organisms of the same species that live in the same area.