Ecosystems Vocabulary

Front

What is a nutrient?

Back

A substance, usually a mineral, needed for the healthy growth of living things.

Front

What is an ectotherm?

Back

An animal that depends on its environment to warm its body.

Front

What is the source of energy for all food chains?

Back

The sun.

Front

What does an energy pyramid show?

Back

The amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web.

Front

What is a food web?

Back

A model of the transfer of energy within a set of interconnected food chains.

Front

What is a food chain?

Back

A linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another.

Front

What are producers?

Back

Organisms that produce their own food, typically through photosynthesis, such as plants.

Front

What are consumers?

Back

Organisms that cannot produce their own food and must eat other organisms for energy.

Front

What is a decomposer?

Back

An organism that breaks down dead or decaying organisms, returning nutrients to the soil.

Front

What is an abiotic factor?

Back

Non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisms.