Who Eats Whom: Ecology Vocabulary

Science · Ecosystems & Habitats · ages 8-10

Name ______________________ Date ____________

A mushroom is a producer because it grows out of the soil, just like a plant.
Circle one: True False
An owl eats only other animals. What do we call an animal like this?
- Carnivore
- Herbivore
- Omnivore
What do we call a living thing that cannot make its own food, so it eats other living things?
- Consumer
- Decomposer
- Producer
The grass-rabbit-fox chain and the grass-mouse-owl chain cross and link in one habitat. What do we call many linked food chains?
- A food chain
- A food web
- A nutrient cycle
In the food chain grass, grasshopper, frog, snake, which word describes the grasshopper's role?
- Producer
- Consumer
- Decomposer
A fox hunts and eats a rabbit. Which word describes the fox in this pair?
- Predator
- Herbivore
- Prey
Plants grow, animals eat them, decomposers break down what dies, and the nutrients feed new plants. What is this whole loop called?
- A food chain
- A nutrient cycle
- A predator pair
In this food chain: grass, zebra, lion, how many producers are there?
Answer: ______________
Put these three living things into a food chain in the right order: hawk, grass, mouse.
- hawk, mouse, grass
- grass, mouse, hawk
- mouse, grass, hawk
Kai says: 'A cow is big and strong, so it must be a carnivore.' What is wrong with Kai's idea?
- A cow is a producer because it makes milk
- What an animal eats decides its name, and a cow eats only plants, so it is a herbivore
- Nothing, big strong animals are carnivores

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

False · A mushroom cannot make its own food from sunlight. It is a decomposer that breaks down dead things.
Carnivore · An animal that eats only other animals is a carnivore.
Consumer · A consumer gets energy by eating other living things instead of making its own food.
A food web · Many food chains that link together in one habitat form a food web.
Consumer · The grasshopper eats the grass, so it's a consumer, not a producer.
Predator · The fox is doing the hunting, so it's the predator. The rabbit being hunted is the prey.
A nutrient cycle · When nutrients pass from soil to plants to animals and back to the soil, that loop is the nutrient cycle.
1 · Only the grass makes its own food. The zebra and the lion both eat other living things.
grass, mouse, hawk · The producer comes first, then the animal that eats it, then the predator at the top.
What an animal eats decides its name, and a cow eats only plants, so it is a herbivore · Size does not decide the name. What the animal eats does, and cows eat only plants.