Unit 1B - Ecosystems

An Ecosystem Includes all the Living and Non-Living Parts in an Area

biotic = living parts

abiotic = non-living parts

Organisms can be classed as producers, consumers or decomposers.

producer = organism that uses sunlight energy to produce food

consumer = organism that gets energy by eating other organisms

decomposer = organism that gets energy by breaking down dead material

Food chains show what eats what. Food webs show lots of food chains and how they overlap.

When dead material is decomposed, nutrients are released into the soil. Nutrients are taken up from the soil into plants. Plants are eaten by consumers, and when consumers die the nutrients return to the soil, This is called nutrient recycling.

A change to one part of an ecosystem has an impact on other parts

Some parts of an ecosystem depend on others.

Consumers depend on producers for a source of food and some depend…