Food Chains
Vocabulary
5.9A – OBSERVE THE WAY ORGANISMS LIVE AND SURVIVE IN THEIR
ECOSYSTEM BY INTERACTING WITH THE LIVING AND NONLIVING
ELEMENTS
5.9B - DESCRIBE HOW THE FLOW OF ENERGY DERIVED FROM THE
SUN, USED BY PRODUCERS TO CREATE THEIR OWN FOOD, IS
TRANSFERRED THROUGH A FOOD CHAIN AND FOOD WEB TO
CONSUMERS AND DECOMPOSERS
Ecosystem
All living and nonliving things
interacting in an environment.

LIVING: trees, grass, flowers, deer, wolf,
bunny, snake, butterflies, mouse, hawk,
bees

NONLIVING: rocks, water, air, dead tree
branch
Habitat
Place where organism lives and
finds everything it needs to survive
Niche
Role of plant or animal plays in its
habitat

How organism acts in environment

Where it lives

Interaction with other species

What it eats/ what eats it

Movement on a day-to-day basis
Producer
Living things that can make its
own food. (Plants)
Consumer
Living thing that cannot make its
own food and must eat other living
things

Just plants

Just animals

Both plants and animals
Herbivore
Organism that only feeds on grass
and/or plants

Horse


Cow


Mouse


Sheep


Zebra
Koala
Grasshopper
Elephant
Caterpillar
Carnivore
Organism that only feeds on other
animals (meat)

Wolf


Lion


Tiger


Orca


Shark
Dog
Hawk
Cat
Octopus
Omnivore
Organism that eats both
plants and animals

Humans


Tigers


Rhino


Tortoise


Bear
Pig
Alligator
Cat
Racoon
Decomposer
A living thing that gets energy by
breaking down dead organisms
and animal waste into
simpler substances.

Flies

Bacteria

Worms

fungi

Snails

Beetles

Mushrooms
 Moss
 Mold
Population
All organisms of same kind that live
together in an ecosystem