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Ecosystems
Have you looked closely at a spider web before? Many threads connect to make a space where a spider can grow and live. Ecosystems are like spider webs in this way. Many living things connect with each other to grow and live.

What is an Ecosystem?
An ecosystem is a network of living things and resources in the same area. Part of this group is made up of living things. The other part is made up of the place where they live.

Ecosystems come in many sizes. They may be a small tide pool in the sea, or a large forest of millions of square miles. Most ecosystems are in the ocean. Some are land-based or in rivers and lakes.


A tide pool ecosystem
Energy and Matter
Energy and matter are in all ecosystems. Energy lets living things move and grow. Some animals get energy from eating plants. Those animals may then be eaten by bigger animals. The bigger animals take the energy. This flow of energy keeps being passed through the food web.


An example of a marine food web
The beginning of food webs are plants called producers. They can create their own food through photosynthesis. These plants draw in carbon dioxide and sunlight from the air. They also intake water from the ground to survive.

Plants are also food for the next level of the food web. This next level is made of animals, known as consumers that eat plants. These animals are called herbivores. Animals that eat both plants and animals are called omnivores. Animals that only eat other animals are carnivores.

All plants and animals will one day die and decay. The matter they leave behind gives energy to living things at the end of the food web. Decomposers like bacteria and fungi both eat dead matter. They use the energy to survive. Then they give food to the soil that helps plants grow. The food web starts all over again!


Mushrooms eat dead matter.
Biodiversity
There are many plants and animals in an ecosystem. This is called biodiversity. Ecosystems want to have balance. This can be hard. Big changes in an area can happen.


Ecosystems have many living things
Ecosystems with many plants and animals survive better. Areas with only 1 or 2 types of plants may lose all the plants. Many animals need plants to eat. They would still have food if plants survive the flood. Places with only a few plants or animals can fall apart and die off.

It is important for an area to have balance. It is also important to have many types of plants and animals.

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Questions
What is the main idea of the text?

Ecosystems can be as small as a tide pool or as large as the Amazon rainforest.

Ecosystems are very similar to spider webs.

Ecosystems are networks of living things and resources that interact with each other to survive.

Energy allows living organisms to move and grow.
Which life form is first in the food web?

Consumers

Decomposers

Producers

Energy
Where are most ecosystems found?

In the ocean

In rivers and lakes

On land

In California
What is the section called ’Biodiversity’ mostly about?

Which plant species are likeliest to survive a drought

How droughts occur

Which ecosystems are the biggest

Why it’s important for ecosystems to have many plants and animals
How is an omnivore different from a carnivore?

Omnivores eat other animals, while carnivores do not.

Omnivores eat both plants and animals, while carnivores only eat animals.

Omnivores eat dead matter, while carnivores eat living matter.

Omnivores are animals, while carnivores are plants.
Please answer all questions

Answer 1

1. Ecosystems are networks of living things and resources that interact with each other to survive.

2. Producers

3. In the ocean

4. Why it’s important for ecosystems to have many plants and animals

5. Omnivores eat both plants and animals, while carnivores only eat animals.