Download Study Guide for Science Unit 4

Study Guide for Science Unit 5
Ecology
Test Date: Thursday, March 14
Vocabulary to know:
Consumers-animals that can not make their own food
Producers-plants that make their own food
Decomposers-an organism that breaks down wastes and the remains of other
organisms. They provide nutrients for the soil to grow new plants.
Omnivore-animals that eat both plants and animals
Carnivores-animals that eat mainly other animals
Herbivores-animals that eat mainly plants
Prey-the animal that is being hunted and eaten
Predator-the animal that is hunting for food
Ecosystem-all living and non living things in an area
Food Chain-the path that energy takes from an organism to organism
Hibernation-animals that “sleep” to survive the winter
Other information to know
-Ecosystems are made of all living and nonliving things in an area
*Organism-one living thing (Ex-one frog)
*Population-a group of the same living thing (Ex-a group of frogs)
*Community-all living things in an area (Ex- frogs, fish, birds)
*ecosystems-all living and nonliving things in an area (Ex-frog, fish
birds, sun, water, rocks)
-Food chains show how energy is passed from one organism to another and a
food web shows how food chains connect in an ecosystem.
-Food chains start with energy from the sun and end with decomposing.
-When there is a scarcity of food, animals will compete for food, move
locations, find another food source, or die.
-Some plants compete for space, nutrients, and sunlight with other plants.
-Plants depend on animals to carry their seeds to other locations to grow.
(Example: in the hair, mouth, body waste)
-If there are too many of one population in an area there may become a
shortage in a food supply.
-Changes in an animal’s habitat could be harmful or helpful.
-Adaptations help animals survive in an environment. (Examples: camouflage,
mimicry, poison)
-Animals that use camouflage have skin or fur that helps it blend in with its
surroundings. Some animal’s skin and fur change colors to blend in.
-Mimicry is when an organism take on the characteristics of another
organism to survive
*Example: a non poisonous snake may look like a poisonous snake to keep
predators away
-Animals may hibernate to survive the cold months due to a scarcity in the
food supply
*The heart beat and breathing slow down as they “sleep”
*Animals may store food in their dens or burrows. These animals
“wake up” during hibernation to eat. Other animals store extra body fat.
They will not “wake up” during hibernation but get energy from the body fat
stored on their bodies.
*Natural events and living things can cause changes in an ecosystem.
-Natural events-volcanoes, hurricanes, earthquakes
-Living things-a new organism, over population of an organism, or when
an organism no longer exists in an ecosystem.
*Animals have to adapt to or leave the ecosystem in order to survive.
*Endangered plants and animals have very few of their kind left. These
plants and animals must be protected from humans, use there adaptations to
survive, and reproduce for the species to stay alive.
*Those organisms that can not survive are extinct, meaning there are none
left.
*Fossils can help compare one organism to another. Some organisms that are
extinct are similar to those still existing, while others are very different.
*People also play a part in the extinction of some organisms by hunting or
killing animals and changing an ecosystem by building, cutting down trees, and
polluting.
Be able to:
*label a consumer, producer, and decomposer in a food chain
*identify a predator is a food chain
*know how energy in passed on in a food chain
Example:
Food Chain
Grass
Mouse
Snake
Hawk
*the hawk gets energy from the snake, mouse, and grass
ESSAY QUESTION:
Suppose a species of bird cannot find safe places to build nests. What may
happen to that species? Please give me two possibilities.