Ecosystems

5.L.2 Understand the interdependence of plants and animals with their ecosystem.

5.L.2.1 Compare the characteristics of several common ecosystems, including estuaries and salt marshes, oceans, lakes and ponds, forests, and grasslands.

5.L.2.2 Classify the organisms within an ecosystem according to the function they serve: producers, consumers, or decomposers (biotic

factors).

5.L.2.3 Infer the effects that may result from the interconnected relationship of plants and animals to their ecosystem.

Vocab:

Organism: Any living thing

Flora: plants

Fauna: animals

Abiotic: Non-living

Biotic: Living

Herbivore: An organism that only eats plants

Omnivore: An organism that eats both plants and animals

Carnivore: An organism that only eats animals

Primary consumer: The first animal to eat a plant

Secondary consumer: The second animal to eat another organism

Tertiary consumer: The third animal to eat another organism

Competition: when two or more animals need the same resource

Energy Pyramid: A diagram that shows the amount of organisms in a community

Ecosystem: Community of organisms and their nonliving surroundings

Habitat: Home or environment of an organism

Interdependence: Everything needs or depends on each other

Population: A group of one particular organism that live in an ecosystem

Consumer: Organism that has to eat other organisms for energy

Producer: Organism that can make its own food from the sun

Decomposer: Organism that breaks down dead organisms into nutrients

Photosynthesis: How plants use sunlight to make their own food

Food Chain: Diagram that shows feeding relationships

Food Web: A diagram with many interconnecting food chains

Predator: Animals that hunt other animals for food

Prey: Animals that are hunted

Terrestrial: Land-based ecosystem

Aquatic: Water-based ecosystem

Freshwater: Water that is not naturally salty

Saltwater: Water that is naturally salty

Salt Marsh/Estuary: An area where freshwater, usually a river, flows into saltwater, usually the ocean

Grassland/Savannah: Terrestrial ecosystems that are covered with tall grasses

Deciduous/Temperate Forest: A forest with trees that have flat leaves that fall off the branches every year

Shrub: A plant that has stems of wood and is smaller than a tree

Rainforest: A biome with a lot of rainfall each year

Taiga: A cold biome with many coniferous plants

Tundra: A freezing biome with a layer of permafrost

Desert: A biome with minimal rainfall

Ocean: An aquatic biome made of saltwater

Lake/Pond: A small freshwater biome

Capybara: An herbivore that lives in the rainforest

Prarie dog: An herbivore that lives in the grassland