Ecosystems Vocabulary

Front

An organism that makes its own food
Options: consumer, producer, decomposer, carnivore

Back

producer

Front

An organism that needs to eat other organisms to survive

Back

consumer

Front

An animal that eats only animals

Back

carnivore

Front

An animal that eats only plants

Back

herbivore

Front

A consumer that eats plants and animals

Back

omnivore

Front

A living organism that breaks down dead organisms into smaller parts that can be reused by other living things

Back

decomposer

Front

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

Back

nutrient

Front

The pathway of food energy through an ecosystem; it is a straight line from the Sun to plants to animals

Back

food chain

Front

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

Back

food web

Front

The process that plants use to make glucose (energy). Plants take in sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water and give off oxygen.

Back

photosynthesis