Prairie Ecosystem SE - Gizmo

Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and prompts in the orange boxes. Vocabulary: carnivore, consumer, ecosystem, equilibrium, extinct, food chain, herbivore, organism, population, prairie, producer Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.) An ecosystem consists of all organisms (living things) in an area, plus the natural landscape. A prairie is flat or gently rolling grassland with few trees, such as in parts of central United States and Canada. Organisms often found in a prairie ecosystem include prairie dogs, swift foxes, black-footed ferrets, and of course the grass itself. 1. Which organism (grass, prairie dog, ferret, or fox) do you think is a producer (does not depend on other organisms for its food)? grass 2. Organisms that depend on other organisms for food are consumers. Which consumer you think is a herbivore (eats plants only)? p