Ecosystems Notes
 ecosystem - all the living and nonliving things in an
area that work together
 biotic - the living parts of the environment
 abiotic – the nonliving parts of the environment
 terrestrial – living or growing on land
 aquatic – living or growing in water
 producers - organisms that use energy from the Sun
to make their own food; act as a source of food
(energy) for other organisms in an ecosystem
 consumers – organisms that get energy (food) by eating
other living things
 decomposers - organisms that break down dead
plant or animal matter and release nutrients back
into the soil
 herbivores – consumers that eat only plants
 carnivores - consumers that eat only animals
 omnivores – consumers that eat plants and animals
 food chain – the feeding relationship from one organism
to another in an ecosystem; shows the path of energy as
it flows from one organism to the next
 food web – a diagram of several connected food chains
Energy
Pyramid
Tertiary Consumers
*eat the secondary
consumers
*top predators
Secondary Consumers
*animals that eat primary consumers;
*carnivores
*some are omnivores
Primary Consumers
*animals that eat primary producers
*herbivores
Primary Producers
*organisms that make their own food from sunlight
*plants
 population – a group of organisms of the same kind that
live in the same area at the same time
 community – all the populations of organisms living in the
same area
 niche –the role that a plant or animal plays in an
ecosystem.
 predator – an organism that eats other organisms in order
to live
 prey – the organism that is eaten by a predator
 scavenger – an animal that feeds on dead plant or
animal material
symbiosis
parasitism
commensalism
the relationship between two
organisms in a community
a relationship between two
organisms that benefits one
organism and harms the other
one
a relationship in which one
organism benefits and the other
organism is not harmed
mutualism
a relationship between two
organisms that benefits both
organisms
parasite
an organism that must live on or
inside another organism to get
energy
an organism that is infected by a
parasite
host
limiting factors – a resource or environmental factor
that limits the size of a population
biosphere – the part of the Earth that supports life
deforestation – the clearing of forested land
pollution – an unwanted change in the environment
pollutant – a substance that causes pollution
water cycle – the movement of water on Earth that
moves between the air, the land, and the oceans
carbon cycle – the cycle in which carbon flows
through the environment and living things
nitrogen cycle – the cycle in which nitrogen moves
through the environment and living things
Energy Pyramid