What is an ecosystem? Vocabulary

What is an ecosystem?

• Something that breaks down living matter after it dies

• The way that all plants and animals in an area interact

• A species that lives in an area but is not native to that area

• A chain of causes and events that happen over and over

Each living thing in an ecosystem has a...

• face

• producer

• role

• problem

The three roles of living things in an ecosystem are...

• Producer, Consumer, Decomposer

• Invasive species, native species, humans

• Plants, animals, rocks

​ (a)   make their own food (like plants). (b)   eat living matter (like most animals). ​ (c)   break down plants and animals after they die. ​

• Producers
• Consumers
• Decomposers

Producers get their nutrients from ​ (a)   Consumers get their nutrients from ​ (b)   Decomposers get their nutrients from ​ (c)  

• sunlight and soil.
• eating plants and animals.
• breaking down dead plants and animals.

Match the terms with their examples.

• Panda

• Decomposer

• Tree

• Consumer

• Bacteria

• Producer

The way that nutrients move through an ecosystem is a _____ because it is a series of causes and effects that repeats over and over.

• producer

• invasive species

• cycle

• role

When the ____ of an ecosystem is disturbed, it can have negative effects.

• role

• decomposer

• invasive species

• balance

​ (a)   like earthquakes and hurricanes can harm ecosystems. ​ (b)   like pollution can also have negative effects.

• Natural events
• Human activities

People in the Southern U.S. started planting kudzu, a kind of plant that is native to Asia, to control soil erosion. But kudzu grows fast and kills native plants and animals, so now it is a problem for the local ecosystem. Kudzu is an example of an:

• invasive species

• ecosystem

• balance

• decomposer