Interactions of Organisms in Ecosystems

Question 1

carbon dioxide

Answer 1

a gas used by plants during photosynthesis to make food

Question 2

carnivore

Answer 2

an animal that only eats meat

Question 3

community

Answer 3

all the populations of organisms that live in an ecosystem at the same time

Question 4

consumer

Answer 4

a living thing that gets its energy by eating other living things as food

Question 5

decomposer

Answer 5

a living thing that breaks down dead organisms for food

Question 6

energy

Answer 6

the ability to cause changes in matter

Question 7

flow of energy

Answer 7

energy that is passed from one organism to another in a food chain

Question 8

food web

Answer 8

the interactions among many different food chains in a single ecosystem

Question 9

habitat

Answer 9

a place in an ecosystem where a population lives

Question 10

herbivore

Answer 10

an animal that only eats plants

Question 11

omnivore

Answer 11

an animal that eats both plants and other animals

Question 12

organism

Answer 12

an individual living thing such as a plant, animal, or bacteria

Question 13

photosynthesis

Answer 13

the chemical process in which plants and other organisms combine carbon dioxide and water, using energy from the Sun, to produce sugar and oxygen

Question 14

predator

Answer 14

an animal that lives by killing and eating other animals

Question 15

prey

Answer 15

an animal that is hunted or killed by another animal for food

Question 16

Producer

Answer 16

a living thing that makes its own food

Question 17

Sun

Answer 17

where energy comes from to start all food chains

Question 18

community

Answer 18

group of interdependent organisms living in the same region

Question 19

compete

Answer 19

the struggle between organisms to survive in a habitat with limited resources

Question 20

Ecosystem

Answer 20

the living and nonliving things that interact in an environment

Question 21

environment

Answer 21

the things, both living and nonliving, that surround a living thing

Question 22

fossil

Answer 22

the remains (or an impression) of a plant or animal that existed in a past geological age and that has been excavated from the soil

Question 23

interaction

Answer 23

the effect of one factor (such as environment) depends on another factor (such as heredity)

Question 24

interdependence

Answer 24

how living and non-living things depend on one another

Question 25

niche

Answer 25

An organism’s particular role/job in an ecosystem, or how it makes its living

Question 26

overpopulation

Answer 26

The number of organisms in an area is too much and the animals start to perish or die because of little food or diseases

Question 27

paleontologist

Answer 27

Scientist that studies fossils

Question 28

population

Answer 28

a group of organisms of the same kind that live in the same place

Question 29

species

Answer 29

a group of organisms so similar to one another that they can breed and produce fertile offspring