Habitats and Ecosystems A HABITAT is the place where an organism lives. Habitats provide Food, Water, and Shelter. Abiotic means non-living parts of an ecosystems, such as temperature, water, soil, and sun. Biotic means living or once-living things. Rabbits, grass, dead trees, all are BIOTIC All BIOTIC and ABIOTIC factors in an area make up an ECOSYSTEM.

ECOSYSTEMS GRASSLAND – mainly covered in grass. More rain than a desert. Home to large plant eaters such as buffalo or elephants. Ex. Prairie DESERT – Hot days, cold nights, little or no rain. Sandy or rocky soil. Home to reptiles, cacti, scorpions, hawks. TROPICAL RAIN FOREST – Lots of different trees and flowers. Warm and rainy all year. Jaguars, monkeys. TUNDRA – Cold. Frozen soil. Not much rain.

Populations A population is all the members of ONE species living in an AREA. A food web is many food chains linked together. COMPETITION happens when organisms fight over food, space, or water. Almost all food chains start with the sun.

Consumers and Producers A CONSUMER cannot make its own food and must eat other organisms to stay alive. A PRODUCER (plants) can make its own food from sunlight. A PREDATOR is a consumer that kills other animals to eat. A DECOMPOSER breaks down and eats dead things.

HUMAN IMPACTS POLLUTION is anything that humans add to the environment, such as from factories or housing developments, that harms the environment. CONSERVATION means protecting habitats or limiting hunting.