Ecosystems Worksheet Bundle - Free Printable

Let’s go step by step to match each description with the correct term from the word bank.

We are told:
> “Write the term from the passage above that best matches the description. Some terms will be used more than once.”

The word bank is:
1. All living organisms in an ecosystem.
2. The number of species living within an ecosystem.
3. The study of a habitat’s abiotic and biotic factors.
4. The portion of the planet that contains life.
5. Alligators, turtles, and fish living together in a river form this.
6. Soil, water, and weather.
7. An ecological system that scientists study after study.
8. A place where a population lives.
9. All of the species of freshwater fish that live together in a lake form this.
10. Consists of a community and abiotic factors.

Now let’s recall key definitions from ecology (based on standard middle/high school science):

- Community = all the different populations (living things) living together in one area.
- Population = all members of *one* species living in one area.
- Ecosystem = community + abiotic (non-living) factors like soil, water, climate.
- Biosphere = the part of Earth where life exists — includes land, water, air.
- Habitat = the physical place where an organism or population lives.
- Abiotic factors = non-living parts of environment: soil, water, temperature, sunlight, etc.
- Ecology = the scientific study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment (includes both biotic and abiotic factors).
- Biodiversity = variety of life; often measured as number of species in an area.

Now let’s match each numbered item:

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1. All living organisms in an ecosystem.
→ This is the definition of a community.
*(Note: Sometimes people say “biotic community” — but here it’s just “all living organisms,” so community fits.)*

2. The number of species living within an ecosystem.
→ This is biodiversity. Biodiversity refers to the variety of life, including species richness (number of species).

3. The study of a habitat’s abiotic and biotic factors.
→ That’s ecology. Ecology studies interactions between living things and their environment (both biotic and abiotic).

4. The portion of the planet that contains life.
→ That’s the biosphere.

5. Alligators, turtles, and fish living together in a river form this.
→ These are multiple species living together → that’s a community.

6. Soil, water, and weather.
→ These are non-living → abiotic factors. But wait — looking at the word bank, we don’t have “abiotic factors” listed as a choice? Let me check again...

Wait — actually, looking back at the original problem, the user didn’t provide the actual word bank list — they provided descriptions 1–10, and said “some terms will be used more than once.” But in the image text you pasted, there’s no explicit word bank shown — only the 10 descriptions.

Hold on — rereading your input:

You wrote:

> Write the term from the passage above that best matches the description. Some terms will be used more than once.

And then listed 1 through 10.

But in the very beginning, you included a paragraph titled “WHAT IS AN ECOSYSTEM?” which defines several terms.

So likely, the “terms” we’re supposed to use come from that passage.

Let me extract possible terms from the passage:

From the passage:

- “Ecology is the study...”
- “habitats”
- “ecosystems”
- “communities”
- “populations”
- “abiotic factors”
- “biotic factors”
- “biodiversity”
- “biosphere”

Also mentioned: “Temperate deciduous forests”, “tropical rainforest” — but those are examples, not general terms.

So probable answer choices (implied word bank) are:

- Ecology
- Habitat
- Ecosystem
- Community
- Population
- Abiotic factors
- Biotic factors
- Biodiversity
- Biosphere

Now let’s re-match using these terms.

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1. All living organisms in an ecosystem.
→ Community

2. The number of species living within an ecosystem.
→ Biodiversity (since biodiversity includes species richness)

3. The study of a habitat’s abiotic and biotic factors.
→ Ecology

4. The portion of the planet that contains life.
→ Biosphere

5. Alligators, turtles, and fish living together in a river form this.
→ Multiple species → Community

6. Soil, water, and weather.
→ Non-living → Abiotic factors

7. An ecological system that scientists study after study.
→ Sounds like ecosystem — because ecosystems are what ecologists study repeatedly.

8. A place where a population lives.
→ Habitat

9. All of the species of freshwater fish that live together in a lake form this.
→ Wait — “all of the species of freshwater fish” — that’s still multiple species → so community?
But note: if it were “all the bass in the lake”, that would be a population. Here it says “species of freshwater fish” — plural — so multiple species → community

However, sometimes “population” can refer to a group of individuals of the same species. Since it says “species” (plural), it must be community.

But let’s read carefully: “All of the species of freshwater fish that live together in a lake form this.”
Actually, this phrasing is tricky. It might mean “the collection of all freshwater fish species” — which is still a subset of the full community. But in ecology, any group of interacting populations is a community. So yes — community

Alternatively, could it be “population”? No — because it’s multiple species.

Wait — perhaps it’s testing whether you know that even if it’s only fish, if it’s multiple species, it’s still a community.

Yes.

10. Consists of a community and abiotic factors.
→ That’s the definition of ecosystem

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Now let’s list answers:

1. Community
2. Biodiversity
3. Ecology
4. Biosphere
5. Community
6. Abiotic factors
7. Ecosystem
8. Habitat
9. Community
10. Ecosystem

Check for reuse:
- Community appears in 1, 5, 9 → OK, allowed (“some terms will be used more than once”)
- Ecosystem appears in 7 and 10 → OK
Others appear once.

Is “abiotic factors” considered a single term? Yes.

Is “biodiversity” correctly matched to #2? Yes — biodiversity often refers to species diversity/number of species.

Is #7 “An ecological system that scientists study after study” → definitely “ecosystem”

Is #9 really “community”? Let’s double-check.

“All of the species of freshwater fish that live together in a lake form this.”

If it said “all the largemouth bass in the lake”, that’s a population.

But “species of freshwater fish” implies multiple types — e.g., bass, catfish, perch — so multiple populations → together they form a community (specifically, the fish community of the lake).

In ecology, we do talk about “fish community” meaning all fish species in an area.

So yes — community

Some might argue it’s a “population” if misread, but grammatically, “species” is plural, so it’s multiple species.

Therefore, final matching:

1. Community
2. Biodiversity
3. Ecology
4. Biosphere
5. Community
6. Abiotic factors
7. Ecosystem
8. Habitat
9. Community
10. Ecosystem

──────────────────────────────────────

Final Answer:
1. Community
2. Biodiversity
3. Ecology
4. Biosphere
5. Community
6. Abiotic factors
7. Ecosystem
8. Habitat
9. Community
10. Ecosystem