Ecosystem Balance
Explore how producers, consumers, and decomposers interact — and what happens when ecosystems are disrupted.
What happens to an ecosystem when one part of the food web is disrupted?
Key Vocabulary
Producer
An organism (usually a plant) that makes its own food using sunlight.
Consumer
An organism that gets energy by eating other organisms.
Decomposer
An organism that breaks down dead matter and recycles nutrients.
Food Chain
A sequence showing how energy flows from one organism to the next.
Food Web
A network of interconnected food chains in an ecosystem.
Interdependence
The reliance of organisms on each other for survival.
Key Concepts
- 1
Ecosystems are made of producers, consumers, and decomposers that depend on each other.
- 2
Energy flows from the sun → producers → primary consumers → secondary consumers.
- 3
Removing or adding one species can cascade through the entire food web.
- 4
A balanced ecosystem maintains stable populations without outside interference.