Ecosystems and Food Chains

The Sun is the ultimate source of energy for almost all ecosystems on Earth, as it powers the photosynthesis that producers use to create food.

Through photosynthesis, trees capture carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into biomass (wood and leaves). While water is necessary, the majority of a tree's dry mass comes from the carbon pulled from the air.

In a food chain diagram, the arrow points from the organism being eaten to the organism that consumes it, representing the flow of energy from one trophic level to the next.

Stomata are tiny openings or pores, usually found on the underside of leaves, that facilitate gas exchange, such as taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen and water vapor.

The carbon cycle describes the process by which carbon atoms travel from the atmosphere into organisms and the Earth, and then back into the atmosphere.

An organism that eats only plants is classified as an herbivore. Carnivores eat meat, and omnivores eat both plants and animals.

A food chain is a linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another.

Animals that consume only meat are called carnivores. Herbivores eat plants, and omnivores eat both.

Producers, such as plants, perform photosynthesis by absorbing carbon dioxide and sunlight to create energy, releasing oxygen as a byproduct.

An omnivore is an organism that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter.

In a food chain, the organism that hunts and eats another is called the predator, while the one being eaten is the prey.

Plants are producers because they produce their own food using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.

Ecosystems are interconnected; if plants die due to drought, the herbivores that eat those plants will decrease, which in turn reduces the food supply for the carnivorous eagles.

Biotic factors are living components of an ecosystem. A river is an abiotic factor because it is a non-living physical feature.

The term biotic refers to any living or once-living component of an environment.

The term abiotic refers to the non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisms.

Decomposers break down dead organic matter. Grass is a producer, not a decomposer.

Abiotic factors are non-living. Puppies are living organisms, therefore they are biotic factors.

Decomposers, such as fungi and bacteria, are organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms, recycling nutrients back into the ecosystem.

Rainforests are known for their extreme biodiversity, housing more than half of the world's plant and animal species despite covering a small percentage of Earth's surface.

Rain is a natural weather event that is part of the normal water cycle and does not cause permanent damage to an ecosystem, unlike climate change or natural disasters.

An ecosystem is defined by the interaction between living (biotic) organisms and their non-living (abiotic) environment.

Producers (plants) are the base of the food chain because they capture solar energy through photosynthesis and convert it into chemical energy.