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Feeding Relationships Study Guide
Test will be on ___________
Things you should study:
Please know the following definitions – be able to explain, define and give examples of:
 Biotic Factors – living things or products of living things like plants, bananas, apples, fish,
cows
 Abiotic Factors – non-living things like rocks, the sun or soil
 Environment - the air, water, minerals, organisms, and all other external factors surrounding
and affecting a given organism at any time.
 Habitat - where an organism lives
 Food Chains - A sequence of organisms that eat one another in an ecosystem.
Examples: sun → grass → rabbit → fox
 Food Webs - All the overlapping feeding relationships in an ecosystem
 Trophic Levels – the levels of food webs – refers to nutrition
 Heterotroph – plants, organisms requiring organic compounds for their principal source of
food
 Producer – (Autotroph): An organism that makes its own food from inorganic substances.
(Photosynthesis) Examples: plants, grass, algae
 Photosynthesis – the process by which producers make their own food using Carbon
Dioxide, water and the sun
 Consumer – (Heterotroph): An organism that gets its food by feeding on other organisms or
organic matter. Consumers lack the ability to manufacture own food. Examples: humans,
dogs, lions
 Primary Consumer – the second level of the food chain – organisms that eat plants
(producers) – called herbivores
 Secondary Consumer – the third level of the food chain – organisms that eat other
organisms
 Third Level (Tertiary) Consumer – larger organisms that eat consumers in the level below
them
 Decomposer - An organism whose function is to recycle nutrients by performing the natural
process of decomposition as it feeds on dead or decaying organisms. They break down cells
of dead plants and animals into simpler substances so that it is available to the ecosystem.
Example: fungi, bacteria
 Herbivore – plant eaters
 Carnivore – meat eaters
 Omnivore – eat both plants and meat
 Competition - A relationship between or among living things, (could be same or different
species), for resources, like food, space, shelter, mates, ecological status, etc. Generally
speaking, it is the act of competing or a rivalry.
 Ecosystem - a system of interacting organisms and non-living factors in a specified area
 Predator - An organism that preys upon other organisms
 Prey - An organism that a predator hunts, kills and eats for food
 Host - An organism from which a parasite obtains nutrition and shelter from
 Parasite - An organism that lives on or in another organism of a different species, obtains
nourishment and shelter form the host organism. Parasites my cause harm, disease and/or
death to their host. They are typically much smaller than their host. Examples: tapeworms,
lice, ticks
 Organism - a free-living thing (can live on it’s own)
 Species - a kind of organism that is different from all other kinds of organisms
 Scavenger - An organism or animal that feeds on dead organic matter, like dead animals
rather than or in addition to hunting live prey. Examples: vultures, hyenas, and wolves
Key Ideas:
 Food chains/webs begin with the SUN!
 The ARROWS of Food Chains and Webs show the direction the ENERGY is flowing –
from the prey to the predator
STUDY YOUR ACTIVITY PAGES, NOTES, JOURNAL,
VOCABULARY CARDS