Components of an ecosystem | Combined science | Quizalize & Oak National Academy

Starter quiz

The place where an organism lives which provides food, shelter and a place to reproduce is called a ...

'habitat' ✓
Match the words with the correct definitions.

adaptation

⇔

a feature of an organism that helps it to survive ✓

food chain

⇔

a model which shows how food is passed from one organism to another ✓

herbivore

⇔

an organism which eats plants ✓

producer

⇔

an organism which makes its own food ✓
Which of the following organisms is a top predator in the food chain: grass → rabbit → cat → owl.

grass

rabbit

cat

owl ✓
How many consumers are in the following food chain? Phtyoplankton → zooplankton → small fish → large fish → shark.

none

one

two

three

four ✓
Ladybirds are eaten by birds. Birds are eaten by cats. Ladybirds eat greenfly. Greenfly eat lettuce. Which of the following is the correct food chain?

ladybird → bird cat → greenfly → lettuce

lettuce → greenfly → ladybird → bird → cat ✓

lettuce → cat → ladybird → bird → greenfly

cat → bird → ladybird → greenfly → lettuce
Match the word with the correct definition.

organism

⇔

a living individual ✓

population

⇔

the number of one type of organism in a specific area ✓

community

⇔

interacting populations of different species in a place ✓

Exit quiz

What is made up of all the living organisms in a place, interacting with each other and their non-living surroundings?

'ecosystem' ✓
Which of the following are abiotic factors?

soil type ✓

temperature ✓

competition for food

disease

wind direction ✓
Which of the following are biotic factors?

parasites ✓

competition for a mate ✓

light intensity

rock type

water availability / rainfall
Predators hunt and eat prey. As the number of prey individuals decreases, what will happen to the population of predators?

The predator population decreases - there is less food for the predators to eat. ✓

The predator population decreases - there is more food for the predators to eat.

The predator population increases - there is less food for the predators to eat.

The predator population increases - there is more food for the predators to eat.
The greenfly population increases in summer when it is warm. This is because there is plenty of food so the greenfly reproduce quickly. Greenfly are food for ladybirds. Which statement is correct?

As the population of greenfly increases, the population of ladybirds increases. ✓

As the population of greenfly increases, the ladybird population stays the same.

As the population of greenfly increases, the population of ladybirds decreases.
What will happen if the caterpillar population decreases?

there will be more chaffinches

there will be fewer chaffinches ✓

there will be fewer thrushes ✓

there will be more thrushes

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Lesson Details

Key learning points

Ecosystems contain biotic and abiotic components.
Changes in biotic and abiotic factors will affect communities within an ecosystem.
Predators are consumers that eat prey.
The population sizes of predators and prey increase and decrease in predator-prey cycles.

Common misconception

Varying the population size of an organism will not affect an ecosystem.

All organisms are important within an ecosystem. If one organism's population size changes, either as a result of a biotic factor (predation / disease) or an abiotic factor, it will affect all organisms within the ecosystem (to varying degrees).

Keywords

Ecosystem - An ecosystem is made up of all the living organisms in a place, interacting with each other and their non-living surroundings.
Population - A group of organisms of the same type in the same place is called a population.
Community - A community is made up of all the organisms that live in the same place.
Biotic - Biotic factors are the living components of an ecosystem.
Abiotic - Abiotic factors are the non-living components of an ecosystem.