Mystery Science: Food Webs

producer

a living thing that makes their own food

herbivore

A consumer (an animal) that eats only plants.

carnivore

an animal that eats only other animals.

omnivore

An animal that eats both plants and animals

decomposer

An organism that breaks down wastes and dead organisms

food chain

how living things are connected through what they eat and what they are eaten by

consumer

a living thing that eats other living things

fungus

a living thing that is a decomposer and has spores, such as a mold or mushroom

mold

a type of fungus that often decomposes food

predator

An animal that hunts other animals for food

prey

an animal that is hunted and killed by another for food

castings

worm waste or worm poop

food web

many different food chains found in one place

matter

anything that takes up space; can be in different forms such as solid, liquid or gas

model

a pretend version of something that scientists use when the real thing is too big, small or complicated to work with

carbon dioxide

a type of gas that plants sometimes take in and that animals release when they breathe

experiment

a test used to discover new information about a question

investigate

a process to figure out the answer to a question or to understand how something works

oxygen

a type of gas that animals use to breathe and that plants release

stomata

the tiny openings on plant leaves that take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen

algae

tiny living things in water that produce their own food like plants do

bacteria

an organism that is usually a decomposer, some cause illness

organism

any living thing

control

something in an experiment that you do not change

evidence

information that can be used to support or reject an idea

fair test

an experiment where only one variable is changed, and everything else stays the same

observe

to pay close attention to something

variable

something that you can change in an experiment in order to test an idea

compost

decayed plant material that can be used as fertilzer

decompose

the process of breaking down dead living things

mushroom

a type of fungus that usualy has a stalk and a cap

predict

to guess what will happen based on things you know

spore

a part of a fungus that contains the offspring, similar to the seed of a plant

algae bloom

a quick increase in the amount of algae growing in an area

energy flow

the movement of energy flow through living things

extinct

a type of living thing that once lived on Earth but no longer exists

fossil

the remains of a plant or animal that lived a very, very long time ago