Unit 5 Energy and Ecosystems

Photosynthesis

The process by which plants and plantlike organisms make food.

Chlorophyll

A green pigment in plant leaves that allows them to trap energy from the sun.

Producer

An organism that can make its own food (plants).

Consumer

An organism that can not make its own food. It gets energy by eating plants or organisms that have eaten plants.

Herbivores

Consumers that eat only plants.

Carnivores

Consumers that eat only animals.

Omnivores

Consumers that eat both plants and animals.

Predators

Carnivores and omnivores that hunt and eat other animals.

Prey

Animals that predators hunt.

Scavengers

Consumers that eat the tissue of dead plants and animals.

Decomposers

Consumers that eat and break down the tissue of dead plants and animals and turn them into nutrients for the soil.

Enzyme

A chemical that decomposers use to break down the last remains of plants and animals and animal wastes.

Food Chain

Shows the transfer of food energy from one organism to the next.

First Level Consumers

Herbivores are first level consumers. They get energy from the plants they eat.

Second Level Consumers

Carnivores and omnivores that eat herbivores. They get energy from the herbivores they eat.

Third Level Consumers

Eat second level consumers. They get energy from the organisms they eat.

Food Web

Shows how food chains overlap. It shows what eats what.

Energy Pyramid

A diagram that shows how much energy is passed from one organism to another. At each level of a food chain. Only 10% of the energy is passed to the next organism.