Ecosystem and food webs

• What is an ecosystem?

  All biotic and abiotic parts of an area
• How can organisms in an ecosystem be classified?

  As producers, consumers, or decomposers
• What do producers do in an ecosystem?

  They use sunlight energy to produce food
• What is the role of consumers in an ecosystem?

  They get energy by eating other organisms
• How do decomposers obtain their energy?

  By breaking down dead material
• What type of organisms are typically decomposers?

  Microorganisms
• What does the nutrient cycle illustrate?

  How producers, consumers, and decomposers are linked
• What do food chains and webs demonstrate in an ecosystem?

  • Show interdependence of ecosystem parts
  • Each part depends on others
  • Changes in one part affect others
• What is the term for when parts of an ecosystem depend on each other?

  Interdependence
• What happens if one part of an ecosystem changes?

  It affects all other dependent parts