Ecosystems Vocabulary

Carbon Dioxide

A gas found in the air given off by humans

Chlorophyll

The green substance found in plants that traps energy from the sun and gives plants their green color

Producer

A living think that uses sunlight to make sugar

Habitat

A place where an animal or plant lives

Herbivore

The type of consumer that eats only plants

Predator

An animal that hunts and kills other animals for food; hunter

Food Chain

The flow of energy through a community

Carnivore

The type of consumer that eats other animals

Scavenger

An animal that eats dead animals

Ecosystem

All the living and non-living things in an environment and how they interact

Prey

The animal that predators hunt.

Photosynthesis

A process by which plants change light energy from the sun and use it to make sugar

Consumer

A living thing that gets energy by eating plants and other animals

Omnivore

The type of consumer that eats both plants and animals

Decomposer

An organism that returns nutrients from dead plants and animals back into the soil, air, and water

Bacteria

Microorganisms that act as decomposers

Phytoplankton

Microscopic free-floating organisms that function as producers in marine ecosystems

Zooplankton

Microscopic animals that swim or drift near the surface of marine ecosystems

Food Web

All the food chains that are connected in an ecosystem

Invasive Species

A plant or animal NOT NATIVE to an ecosystem that throws off the balance causing plants and animals to die