Ecosystems Homework Practice
| # | Answer |
|---|---|
| 1 | An ecosystem is a place where living things and nonliving things interact with each other. |
| 2 | Tree and rabbit. |
| 3 | Soil and sunlight. |
| 4 | Example: living thing: butterfly; nonliving thing: water. |
| 5 | Plants need water, sunlight, air, and nutrients from soil. Any two are correct. |
| 6 | Insects help pollinate flowers, break down dead material, and are food for other animals. |
| 7 | Habitat. |
| 8 | A rabbit lives on land, while a fish lives in water. |
| 9 | Answers will vary. Example: pond—living thing: frog; nonliving thing: water. |
| 10 | It may grow poorly, become weak, or die. |
| 11 | Animals depend on plants for food, oxygen, and shelter. |
| 12 | A food chain shows how energy moves from one living thing to another when organisms eat each other. |
| 13 | Grass → rabbit → fox. |
| 14 | The sun is the main source of energy for plants, which starts the food chain. |
| 15 | A producer is a living thing that makes its own food, such as a plant. |
| 16 | A consumer is a living thing that gets energy by eating other living things, such as an animal. |
| 17 | Producers make their own food, while consumers must eat other living things for energy. |
| 18 | Decomposers break down dead plants and animals and return nutrients to the soil. |
| 19 | Dead plants and animals would build up, and nutrients would not return to the soil as well. |
| 20 | Algae. |
| 21 | Producer: trees; consumer: deer or wolves; decomposer: mushrooms. |
| 22 | A drought can reduce water for plants and animals, which may cause some organisms to die or move away. |
| 23 | Foxes may have less food, so their population might decrease or they may look for food elsewhere. |
| 24 | Ecosystems need balance because living things depend on nonliving things like water, sunlight, air, and soil to survive. |
| 25 | Examples: reduce pollution, recycle, save water, plant trees, protect habitats, and avoid littering. |