Vault #6: Ecosystems

1. web Many food chains connected, showing how energy moves through an ecosystem using arrows.
3. An animal that is hunted and eaten by predators.
4. Any living thing, like a plant, animal, or tiny microbe.
5. An animal that hunts and eats other animals.
13. Tiny living things that can help break down dead plants and animals.
14. The movement of blood through a living creature’s body.
15. A scientist who studies how living things interact with each other and their environment.
18. A plant or organism that makes its own food using photosynthesis.
20. The natural world where plants and animals live.
21. A community of living things, non-living things and their environment.
22. A living thing that breaks down dead plants and animals.
24. The natural process of change in an ecosystem over time.
26. Living parts of an ecosystem, like animals and plants.
28. chain A simple path showing who eats whom in nature.

2. Something that changes an ecosystem, like a storm or fire.
6. The process of breaking down food for energy.
7. A gas animals breathe to live.
8. What living things need to grow, move, and stay alive.
9. Non-living parts of an ecosystem, like water, air, and sunlight.
10. Anything that takes up space and has weight, like water and air.
11. An animal that eats plants or other animals to get the energy needed to survive.
12. How plants make food using sunlight, water, and air (carbon dioxide).
16. Living things like mushrooms and molds that help break down (decompose) dead plants and animals.
17. An animal that eats only plants.
19. Simple plants that live in water and make food with sunlight (photosynthesis).
23. An animal that eats both plants and animals.
25. An animal that eats only other animals.
27. Decomposed plants and food that help soil grow healthy plants.