1. Chapter 3- Lesson 1

2. An ecosystem includes all living things
(biotic) and nonliving things (abiotic)
in an environment.
Examples of biotic factors are flowers, trees,
and animals.
Examples of abiotic factors are streams and
rocks.
Biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem
interact and supply the needs of living things.

3. Organisms in an ecosystem can be sorted into
different populations. Populations are all
members of a single species in an area at a
given time.
Together, many different populations make up a
community. A community includes all the living
things in an ecosystem.

4. The path that energy and nutrients follow
in an ecosystem is called a food chain.
Energy flows in one direction in a food chain.

5. Energy in a food chain starts with the sun.
Producers are organisms that use the sun’s
energy to make sugar and oxygen. Producers
are plants.
A consumer is any animal that eats plants
or other animals.

6. Animals that eat producers directly are called
herbivores (squirrels).
Animals that eat other animals are called
carnivores (bobcat).
Animals that eat both plants and animals are
called omnivores (woodpecker).

7. Decomposers break down dead or decaying
plant and animal
material (fungi).
Scavengers are consumers
that eat leftover
bodies after they
have started to rot
(vultures).

8. Q: What general pattern do all food chains
follow?
Q: What is the fewest number of links a food
chain could have? What is the greatest
number?

9. A food web is a bunch of food chains that
have links in common.
A predator is an animal that hunts other
animals for food.
Prey are organisms that are eaten by
other animals.

10. An energy pyramid is a diagram that shows the
amount of energy available at each level of an
ecosystem.

11. Q: Can one organism be a consumer, omnivore,
predator and prey? Explain your answer.
Q: What occurs when a top carnivore is removed
from a food web?