ECOSYSTEMS: VOCABULARY

SOL 4.5

Behavioral Adaptation

Changes an animal makes to how it behaves or acts that help it meet a life need

Example = migration

Carnivore

Consumer that eats other animals (meat)

Examples = Frogs, wolves, vultures, hyenas

Community

Populations of species that live in the same place at the same time together

Consumer

Gets its energy from eating (consuming) other living things

Example = houses, humans, wolves

Decomposer

Consumer that breaks down dead plants and animals

Examples = bacteria and fungi

Ecosystem

All the populations and the nonliving components in an environment that interact with each other.

Food Chain

The path energy takes as animals eat each other

Example = daffodil rabbit to fox

Food Web

All of the food chains in a community

Habitat

Place or kind of place in which an animal or plant naturally lives

Herbivore

Consumer that eats plants

Example = elephants and grasshoppers

Niche

The function that an organism performs in the food web of that community. A niche also includes everything else the organism does or needs in its environment.

Omnivore

Consumer that eats both plants and animals

Examples = humans and bears

Physical (Structural ) Adaptation

Changes to an animal’s body that helps it meet a life need

Example = beak shape

Population

All the organisms of the same species that live in the same place at the same time

Predator

Carnivores that hunt other animals

Examples = frogs and wolves

Producer

Makes its own food using the sun’s energy

Example = oak tree and sunflower

Scavenger

Carnivores that eat dead animals

Example = vultures and hyenas