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Year 8 Science — Ecosystems and food chains

Separate the living and non-living parts of a habitat, build a food chain, and name the three ways two organisms can live together.

Name: ________________________

  1. 1.Sort these animals by what they eat.

    Groups: Herbivore · Carnivore · Omnivore

    • Crow
    • Fox
    • Deer
    • Mouse
    • Hare
    • Leopard

  2. 2.In the food chain grass → grasshopper → frog → snake, which one is the producer?

    • a) Grasshopper
    • b) Frog
    • c) Snake
    • d) Grass

  3. 3.Sort these ecosystems by whether they sit in water or on land.

    Groups: Aquatic ecosystem · Terrestrial ecosystem

    • Grassland
    • A pond
    • A forest
    • A river

  4. 4.Why does the chapter call competition for food, water and space a good thing for an ecosystem?

    • a) It stops organisms from eating one another
    • b) It removes the weakest organisms from the habitat
    • c) It increases the number of abiotic components
    • d) It helps control population size and keeps the ecosystem balanced

  5. 5.Put this grassland food chain in order, from what is eaten first to what eats last.

    • Eagle
    • Grass
    • Grasshopper
    • Frog
    • Snake

  6. 6.Put these four levels of nature in order, from the smallest upwards.

    • Ecosystem
    • Individual
    • Population
    • Community

  7. 7.In the chain grass → grasshopper → frog → snake, the frogs disappear. What happens to the grasshoppers and the snakes?

    • a) Grasshoppers increase, because nothing is eating them; snakes decrease, because their food has gone
    • b) Both increase, because one fewer animal is competing for space
    • c) Both stay the same, because the grass is unaffected
    • d) Grasshoppers decrease and snakes increase

  8. 8.What is the difference between a population and a community?

    • a) A community is smaller than a population
    • b) A population is the plants and a community is the animals
    • c) A population lives in water and a community on land
    • d) A population is organisms of one kind in a habitat; a community is the different populations sharing it

Answer key — Year 8 Science — Ecosystems and food chains

  1. 1. Deer → Herbivore; Hare → Herbivore; Leopard → Carnivore; Crow → Omnivore; Fox → Omnivore; Mouse → Omnivore
  2. 2. d) Grass
  3. 3. A pond → Aquatic ecosystem; A river → Aquatic ecosystem; A forest → Terrestrial ecosystem; Grassland → Terrestrial ecosystem
  4. 4. d) It helps control population size and keeps the ecosystem balanced
  5. 5. 1. Grass 2. Grasshopper 3. Frog 4. Snake 5. Eagle
  6. 6. 1. Individual 2. Population 3. Community 4. Ecosystem
  7. 7. a) Grasshoppers increase, because nothing is eating them; snakes decrease, because their food has gone
  8. 8. d) A population is organisms of one kind in a habitat; a community is the different populations sharing it