Ecosystem Concepts

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Ecosystem

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An ecosystem includes all living things (plants, animals, and organisms) in a given area, interacting with each other and their non-living environments (weather, earth, sun, soil, climate, atmosphere).

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Biotic Factors

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Living things in an environment.

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Abiotic Factors

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Non-living things in an environment.

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Producers

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A living thing (such as a green plant) that makes its own food and serves as a food source for other organisms.

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Consumers

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A plant or animal that obtains its food by preying on other living things or eating plants.

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Decomposers

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An organism, such as a bacterium or a fungus, that feeds on and breaks down dead plant or animal matter.

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Food Chains

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A food chain shows how each organism gets its food and how nutrients and energy are passed from one organism to another.

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Food webs

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Show how energy is transferred in an ecosystem.

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Biodiversity

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The variety of species found in Earth's terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems.

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Ecological Pyramids

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Models that show how energy flows through ecosystems, illustrating the relative amounts of energy, biomass, or numbers of organisms at each trophic level.