Vocabulary - The Food Web
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STUDENT RESOURCE 5.1
Vocabulary
INFORMATION SHEET
decomposer an organism that
fossil the remains or traces of an
feeds on dead organisms
organism that lived long ago
Molds, bacteria, and snails
A fossil might be a bone from
are decomposers in aquatic
an ancient animal or a set of its
ecosystems. They break down
footprints. Fossils help scientists
the dead organisms and release
fi gure out what ancient organisms
nutrients into the ecosystem for
looked like and how they lived.
use by plants.
predator an animal that hunts,
food chain the path of food energy
catches, and eats other live animals
from one organism to another in
Guppies are predators when they
an ecosystem
eat daphnia.
Producers such as plants are the
prey an animal that is hunted,
fi rst living link in a food chain.
caught, and eaten by other animals
They produce their own food using
Daphnia are prey when they are
energy from the sun. When an
eaten by guppies. Baby guppies are
insect eats a plant and then a frog
prey when they are eaten by adult
eats the insect, energy is passed
guppies.
along the food chain.
producer an organism that makes
food web overlapping food chains
its own food
with different paths for the fl ow of
Plants and algae are producers.
energy in an ecosystem
They use the energy in sunlight to
Each animal in an ecosystem eats
make food from carbon dioxide
many different things. A guppy, for
and water.
example, eats daphnia and worms.
A bigger fi sh might eat guppies
and insects. A food web shows
how these food chains overlap.
AQUARIUM HABITATS • SECTION 5 THE FOOD WEB
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