Unit 7: Ecology
Name: Date:
Aim #48 Roles in an Ecosystem: What are the nutritional roles and feeding relationships in the environment?
In every ecosystem, populations of different species are linked together, directly or indirectly, in a complex web of interactions. Most of the interactions occur as organisms obtain their food. Each population has one or more specific roles in the ecosystem. As a result, maintaining the ecosystem’s diversity is essential to its stability.
I. Habitat vs. Niche
Because the world contains a wide variety of physical conditions, many different kinds of environments are available to organisms.
a) Habitat: ______
· Ex:
b) Niche: The ______that each species places in an ecosystem
(what an organism does, how it, how/where it obtains food etc.)
· Only ______species at a time can occupy a particular niche.
· What happens if two species attempt to fill the same role in an ecosystem? ______
II. Nutritional Roles in an Ecosystem
A. There are two types of nutrition in an Ecosystem
1) Autotrophic Nutrition
a. Also known as: ______or ______
b. Definition: ______and ______the sun’s ______through the process of ______
c. Example: ______and ______
*Why are autotrophs considered the most important and most abundant organisms in an ecosystem?
2) Heterotrophic Nutrition
a. Also known as: ______or ______
b. Definition: must ______food by ______other organisms
c. Example: animals eating ______or other ______
There are many types of heterotrophs (consumers) in an ecosystem
HETEROTROPH (CONSUMER) / DEFINITION / EXAMPLE
1. HERBIVORE / Only eat ______
2. CARNIVORES
a. Predators
b. Scavengers /
Only eat ______(other animals)
a. ______& ______their food (prey)
b. Eat ______animals they find. They're
the “clean-up crew” and are NOT DECOMPOSERS / a.
b.
3. OMNIVORES / Eat both ______and ______
4. DECOMPOSERS / Break down, absorb, and ______ ______matter (dead organisms and wastes) so they can ______these ______to the soil to be ______ by producers
Match the terms on the right to the descriptions on the left.
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