Research: Ecosystems
Theme: Science
What is an ecosystem?

A group of living things interacting with each other
and their environment. It can include thousands of
different species, or types of organisms. Here, it's brush
rabbits, redwoods, and gray foxes, plus countless
species of birds, plants, insects, and microbes. Every
individual is part of a population: all the members of
the same species that live there. And all of the
populations in an ecosystem form its community.
What is in an ecosystem?
 Living
things:
Nonliving things:
-rabbits
-mountains
-foxes
-water
-fishes
-volcanoes
-mouses
-Soil
etc.
•Let’s learn more words!
etc.
Producer
 On
land, most producers are plants.
They use most of the energy they get
from sunlight to live, grow, and
reproduce. And they store the rest of
it in their bodies.
Consumer

When a bunny eats a plant, it gets some of that leftover
energy. Since rabbits have to eat, or consume, other
organisms to survive, they’re called consumers. If a fox
eats a bunny, then it gets some of the energy the bunny
got from plants. So, all the energy in ecosystems
ultimately comes from the Sun!
Decomposer

This group includes fungi, like mushrooms, and
many microbes, like bacteria. For them, food is
dead stuff and poop. Decomposers break all that
down and return the nutrients to the
environment. If it weren’t for them, nasty
stuff would just pile up, like if you never
cleaned your rabbit’s litter box! Decomposers
recycle the matter back into the soil, water,
and air. When organisms die, decomposers break
them down and return that carbon to the
environment.
Scavenger

When rabbits eat plants, they can help
spread that plant’s seeds. When foxes
eat other animals, they leave some
scraps behind. Those scraps become
food for scavengers, like certain
insects.
Food Chain & Food Web

In ecology, a food chain is a series of organisms that eat one another so that
energy and nutrients flow from one to the next. For example, if you had a
hamburger for lunch, you might be part of a food chain that looks like this:
grass →→cow →→human. But what if you had lettuce on your hamburger? In
that case, you're also part of a food chain that looks like this:
lettuce →→human.