Ecosystem Vocab

1. an ecosystem where a large river flows into the sea
6. animals that eat plants
8. water that is salty
10. related to the sea or ocean
12. an arctic treeless plain where the ground stays mostly frozen
13. nonliving
17. land
18. water that is not salty
20. a forest where most of the trees lose their leaves in the fall
21. an environment that has all the things a plant or animal needs to live
22. a small body of freshwater surrounded on all sides by land
24. reef an ecosystem formed by a colony of corals built on many coral skeletons in tropical shallow seas
28. web a complex diagram showing the different organisms that other organisms eat
32. an organism that hunts and eats other animals
33. an ecosystem that has wet, spongy soil and shallow water
34. the whole group of living and nonliving things that make up an environment and affect each other
36. a wet, tropical forest ecosystem
37. a flowing stream of freshwater
38. a forest where most of the trees are evergreen

2. marsh a coastal grassland often flooded by seawater (salt water)
3. water
4. a major community of plants and animals with distinct characteristics
5. when organisms must fight over limited resources
7. a tropical grassland ecosystem
9. a change to meet the needs and demands of situation
11. consumers who eat producers
14. living
15. animals that eat both plants and other animals
16. an animal that is hunted
19. consumers who eat other consumers
23. animals that eat other animals
24. organisms that get their energy by eating other organisms
25. organisms that help break down dead things into nutrients and soil
26. organisms that get their energy from the sun
27. the place where a plant or animal naturally lives
29. chain a simple diagram showing which organism eats which other organism
30. a body of freshwater surrounded on all sides by land
31. a grassland ecosystem in North America
35. pyramid a diagram showing the producers and consumers in a particular habitat or ecosystem