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Cause and Effect — How One Change Spreads Through Nature
Forest is cut or pond is polluted
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Habitat lost
Plants and animals lose their home.
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Food chains break
Some species fall, others rise.
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Pests increase
Natural controllers are lost.
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Balance of nature is disturbed
Mind Map
How Nature Works in Harmony
Chapter 12
12.1
Surroundings
Biotic and abiotic components share every habitat.
12.2
Living Together
Population and community in one habitat.
12.3
Every Organism Matters
Fish affect pollinators and plant seeds.
12.4
Interactions
Ecosystem; producers, consumers, food types.
12.5
Who Eats Whom
Food chain, food web, trophic levels.
12.6
Waste in Nature
Decomposers recycle nutrients to soil.
12.7
One Change to Another
Small changes cause cascading effects.
12.8
Maintaining Balance
Competition, mutualism, commensalism, parasitism.
12.9
Benefits of Ecosystems
Air, water, food; farming and protection.
Key Terms and Definitions
- Habitat
- A place that gives an organism the right conditions to live.
- Biotic components
- The living beings of a habitat, like plants and animals.
- Abiotic components
- The non-living things, like air, water and soil.
- Population
- A group of the same kind of organism in a habitat.
- Community
- Different populations sharing the same habitat.
- Ecosystem
- Biotic and abiotic parts of an area interacting together.
- Producer (autotroph)
- An organism that makes its own food, like a plant.
- Consumer (heterotroph)
- An organism that depends on others for food.
- Herbivore
- An animal that eats only plants.
- Carnivore
- An animal that eats only animals.
- Omnivore
- An animal that eats both plants and animals.
- Food chain
- A simple sequence of who eats whom in an ecosystem.
- Food web
- A network of many interlinked food chains.
- Trophic level
- The position an organism holds in a food chain.
- Decomposers
- Organisms like fungi and bacteria that break down dead matter.
- Mutualism
- A relationship where both organisms benefit.
- Parasitism
- One organism benefits while the other is harmed.
- Sustainable farming
- Farming that protects soil and ecosystems for the future.
