Terms
Definitions
List four ways people can affect a food
web.
1. Overfishing
2. Deforestation-cutting down trees
3. Pesticides
4. Pollution of oceans and rivers
How do plants get their water?
Plants get their water from the soil through their roots.
chlorophyll
The green substance found in plants that traps energy
from the sun and gives plants their green color.
carbon dioxide
A gas found in the air. Example: Plants use the sun,
carbon dioxide, and water to make sugar.
photosynthesis
A process by which plants change light energy from the
sun and use it to make sugar.
ecosystem
All the living and nonliving things in an environment and
how they interact. Ecosystems contain both living and
nonliving things. Examples: Forest, rocks, your backyard
habitats
A place where an animal or a plant lives. Habitats
provide food, water, and shelter for survival. Example:
Whale's habitat is the ocean. A squirrel's habitat is the
forest/trees.
producer
A living thing that uses sunlight to make sugar. Example:
Plants are producers
consumer
A living thing that gets energy by eating plants and
other animals. Example: Animals are consumers.
herbivore
A consumer that eats plants. Example: Chipmunks and
rabbits
omnivore
A consumer that eats both plants and other consumers.
Example: Crows eat dead animals, corn, and wheat.
Flying squirrels eat insects and nuts.
scavenger
An animal that eats dead animals. Example: Vultures
decomposers
A consumer that puts materials from dead plants and
animals back into the soil, air, and water. Examples:
Fungi and worms
food chain
The flow of energy through a community. Example: Sungrass-cricket-frog-snake (notice the sun is always first).
predator
An animal that hunts and kills other animals for food.
Example: The garter snake is a predator to the frog
because it will eat the frog (the frog is the prey).
prey
The animals that predators hunt. Example: The
grasshopper is prey to the frog because the frog will eat
the grasshopper.
food web
All the food chains in a community
What would create a change in the food
web?
If pesticides kill the grasshoppers there won't be as
many frogs. As a result, there won't be as many snakes.
adaptation
Any structure of behavior that helps a living thing meet
its need for survival. Examples: The cactus has a long,
shallow root that can absorb a great deal of water
quickly.
camouflage
Any coloring, shape, or pattern that allows a living thing
to blend into its surroundings. Example: The Timber
wolf's coloring allows it to hide among the trees and
sneak up on its prey.
What are some things that can make living
things become endangered or extinct?
Changes in habitat, hunting, and pollution can make
some living things become extinct or endangered.
Living in groups makes it easier for animals
to get food, water, and protection.
Scientists give names to groups of animals.
Name some groups.
Herd of buffalo, school of fish, hive of bees, pride of
lions, and a colony of meerkats and ants
migration
The movement of an animal from one location to
another as the seasons change. Example: Monarch
butterflies, sea turtles, and gray whales all migrate long
distances each year.
hibernation
Why do some animals hibernate in the
winter?
A long, deep sleep in which an animal's heart rate and
breathing are much slower than normal. Examples:
Brown bears, ground squirrels. Animals hibernate to
adapt to environmental changes.
symbiosis
A special way in which two different kinds of living
things live together. Example: Giraffe and Oxpeckers.
Oxpeckers land on the backs of giraffes in search of ticks
and fleas to eat.
parasite
A plant or animal that feeds off another living things
and harms it. Example: The flea that lives on a dog is a
parasite.
host
A plant or animal that is harmed by a parasite. Example:
The dog that has a flea on it is host.
pollution
Anything harmful added to the air, land, or water
endangered
Having a population that is falling low in number and
that is in danger of becoming extinct. Examples: Panda
bears, Condors
extinct
No longer existing.
Facts about fossils
Fossils such as bones, shells, and footprints provide
information about organisms that lived long ago.
conductor
A material through which electric current passes easily
is a condutor. Tip: Think of a train conductor. Example:
Metal is a good conductor.
insulator
A material through which an electric current does not
pass easily is an insulator. Ex: Plastic and rubber are
good insulators.
gills
Organs for breathing found in fish and amphibians
amphibian
One of a large group of animals with backbones that live
part of their lives in water and part on land. Examples:
Salamander, frog, toad, newt
reptiles
An animal with a backbone that has dry, scaly skin.
Reptiles are cold-blooded. They reproduce by laying
eggs or giving birth to live young. Ex: Alligators and
snakes
birds/facts
Birds are warm-blooded animals that have backbones
and feathers covering their bodies. Their bones are
lightweight because they are hollow.
mammals
An animal with a backbone that usually has hair on its
body and feeds milk to its young. Most mammals give
birth to live young and care for their young. Examples:
Pandas, horses, elephants, gorillas, cats,
behavior
The way a living thing acts. Examples: Dogs bark, cats
meow, and birds build nests
instinct
A behavior that an animal is born with and does not
need to learn. Example: Squirrel burying its nuts
reflex
A simple, automatic behavior
stimulus
The cause of a behavior
response
A behavior caused by a stimulus. Example: The dog
wagging its tail after it gets fed.
insects
Insects and other animals with jointed legs have
different numbers of legs and body parts. Insects have
three body parts. The body parts of an insect are the
head, the thorax, and the abdomen.
How do scientists group animals?
Scientists group animals into two large groups-animals
with backbones and animals without backbones
What can baby animals inherit from their
parents?
Baby animals can inherit certain traits from their
parents but can differ in color, kind of hair, and other
characteristics.
Fact: Animals
All animals produce young either by laying eggs or
giving birth to live babies.
chemical change
A change to a substance that produces one or more
new substances. Example: paper burning
classify
To group organisms based on their traits
deposition
The dropping of sediments in a new location. As water
and wind slow down, they drop, or deposit, sediments.
erosion
The carrying away of weathered rocks, or sediments.
Water, wind and glaciers can cause erosion.
growth
An increase in size
gravity
A force that attracts objects to each other. The force of
gravity holds you to Earth's surface.
graduated cylinder
A tool used to measure the volume of liquids
hypothesis
A possible answer to a scientific question: an idea about
what might happen in an experiment
friction
A force that works against motion, such as the force
between a bicycle's tires and a sidewalk. (Friction can
cause heat)
precipitation
The stage in the water cycle in which water falls back to
Earth's surface. It may be in the form of rain, snow,
sleet, hail, or drizzle.
germination
The sprouting of a plant
mechanical energy
Energy related to motion. Ex: Riding a bicycle
weathering
The breaking down of rocks by wind and water into
sediments that can be carried away
kinetic energy
The energy of a moving object (Swinging on a swing)
life cycle
All of the stages of growth and development an
organism goes through during its lifetime
The sun is classified as a
star
About how long does it take for Earth to
make one revolution around the Sun?
One year
Which two life processes occur in both
plants and humans?
Growing and reproducing
Seeds can be carried or dispersed by...
the wind, people (attached to their clothes), animals, or
water.