Ecology Study Guide…..Test
Tuesday May 29 (Ms. Wetzel’s class) or Thursday May 31 (Ms. Whalen’s class)
What is a food chain? Transfer of energy through
producers, consumers and decomposers that creates the balance of nature.
The members of a food
chain
Sun: the first step in the
food chain- gives energy to producers
Producer (plants): They
make their own food from the energy they get from the sun. (bushes, trees, grass, weeds, veggies,
fruits, etc)
Primary Consumer (herbivores):
They eat the Producers which gives them energy. (bunnies, squirrels, deer,
caterpillars, etc)
Secondary Consumer
(Carnivores): They eat the Primary Consumers which transfers the energy to them.
(foxes, bears, cats, mountain lions, dogs, wolves, birds, people, etc)
Decomposer (fungi,
bacteria, worms): They break down the dead bodies’ of plants and animals which
in turn transfers the energy back into the soil.
Things we can do that help
the environment
Reduce- use less water,
turn off lights or TVs when they are not being used
Reuse- clothing- donate or
hand down, water bottles, plastic containers
Recycle- paper, cardboard,
steel, aluminum cans, plastic containers, newspapers
Why is it important to
have a balance in nature?
It
is important to have a balance in nature because when there is more of one
resource such as deer and not enough of another such as food, all the food will
be eaten up which in turn will cause the deer to die out. It is important to
have enough food to feed the deer, wolves to help keep the herd sizes down, which
in turn will allow more food to grow.
Other Vocabulary:
Water pollution: To make water dirty from harmful liquids, trash or
gas.
Air pollution: To make the air dirty from harmful gases such as
exhaust from a car or smoke from a factory.
Land pollution: To make the land dirty from harmful trash not
being thrown away properly.
Ecosystem: A specific community of living and nonliving things
interacting in an environment.
Environment: The natural surroundings of a living thing
Compost: Adding nutrients back to the soil through old food and grass
clippings
Recycle: Use again
Pure Stream: Sorting things so that like things being
recycled are together
