ENVIRONMENTS AND ECOSYSTEMS

An organism’s ENVIRONMENT is all the things around it. Organisms rely on their environment to satisfy their basic needs.

An ECOSYSTEM is all the living and nonliving things in a certain area.

The place in which a certain kind of organism lives is a HABITAT

Think of a habitat as a home. A rotting log might be a habitat for an insect. A tree might be a habitat for a bird.

A COMMUNITY is all the living things found in an area.

DECOMPOSERS – Mushrooms, fungi, and earthworms Living thing interact with, or affect, one another. PRODUCERS – Plants CONSUMERS – Animals DECOMPOSERS – Mushrooms, fungi, and earthworms

PRODUCERS – Plants They use the SUN and CARBON DIOXIDE to make food.

CONSUMERS – Animals They eat other living things Herbivores – eat plants Carnivores – eat meat Omnivores – eat both

DECOMPOSERS – Mushrooms, fungi, and earthworms They eat dead organisms and break them into tiny pieces. These pieces become nutrients in the soil that plants use to grow.

A food chain is a series of organisms that get food from one another. All food chains start with a plant.

Many food chains together create a FOOD WEB.

If an animal or plant disappears from the food web, It will affect all other organisms in the food web.

PREDATORS PREY are animals that eat other animals. are the animals that predators eat.

PEOPLE can cause changes in an ecosystem. ANIMALS can cause changes in an ecosystems. NATURAL DISASTERS can cause changes in an ecosystem.

People need the environment to survive. However, we affect the environment in many negative ways.

POLLUTING LAND DEVELOPMENT MINING LOGGING LANDFILLS ROADS Ways we affect the environment: POLLUTING LAND DEVELOPMENT MINING LOGGING LANDFILLS ROADS

A substance that causes pollution is called a POLLUTANT. They can be put into the air, ground, or water. They can harm or kill plants and animals.