Question | Answer |
autotroph | organisms that convert sunlight into chemical energy using the process of photosynthesis |
communities | many different populations living together |
consumers | organisms that must eat other living things to obtain chemical energy |
heterotroph | organisms that cannot make their own food using sunlight |
ecosystem | many communities of living things and the physical environment |
herbivores | consumers that eat only plants |
ecology | the study of interactions between living things and their environment |
biotic factors | part of the ecosystem that is living or made from a living thing |
carnivores | organisms that eat only animals |
populations | members of the same species that live together |
abiotic factors | part of the ecosystem that is physical or chemical, but not living |
predator | carnivore that hunts and kills other animals |
species | individuals that can reproduce to make offspring that are fertile |
biomes | large regions of the earth that share similar climates and similar organisms |
scavenger | carnivores that eat dead animals |
fertile | capable of producing offspring |
biosphere | all parts of the earth that contain living organisms |
omnivore | heterotrophs that eat plants and animals |
sterile | unable to produce offspring |
producers | organisms that can make their own food, usually through photosynthesis |
decomposers | organisms that eat dead and decaying organic molecules and release inorganic molecules into the environment as a way to recycle matter |
food web | identifies the relationships among producers, consumers and decomposers carrying out either autotropic or heterotropic nutrition |
food chain | shows the transfer of energy from producers through a series of organisms |