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• What is carrying capacity?
• What happens when a population reaches
carrying capacity?
• The arrows in a food chain represent the…
• For an ecosystem to be stable (in
homeostasis), do you think there should be
more producers or consumers? WHY?
SATURDAY??
• 10am-3pm
• 250 minutes of lab
• Practice Regents
Carrying Capacity
• The maximum population of a species that
can be supported by an ecosystem.
• Resources are finite, so population growth is
limited.
• Once a population reaches the carrying
capacity, the population will be in a state of
dynamic equilibrium.
Dynamic Equilibrium
• When an ecosystem is balanced, or stable, the
ecosystem is in a state of dynamic equilibrium.
• Dynamic equilibrium is another name for
homeostasis
• DYNAMIC- moving/changing
• EQUILIBRIUM- balance
Stability of the Ecosystem
• In every ecosystem, organisms are supported by
other organisms in the food chain.
• In order for food chains to be stable, there must be
MORE producers than consumers
• In ANY ecosystem, PRODUCERS are the most
abundant organisms.
• Plants support all other organisms directly or
indirectly.
• Plants directly support herbivores.
• Plants indirectly support carnivores.
• Without plants, there would be no herbivores
• In order for a food chain to be stable, there
must be more prey than predators
• Prey support predators
– Prey provide food energy for predators
• Without prey, there would be no predators
• The abundance (amount) of species in an
ecosystem can be represented by a pyramid.
• The arrows in food chains represent the
transfer of energy
• Energy flows through ecosystems in one
direction
• Energy starts as solar energy, which is
converted into chemical energy in plants
Water + Carbon Dioxide  Glucose + Oxygen
H2O +
CO2
 C6H12O6 + O2
Photosynthesis is the process that provides the
ecosystem with vital energy
• Energy in an ecosystem can also be represented in
a pyramid.
• In an ecosystem, producers have the most energy
• Every time energy is transferred, energy is lost
• The energy is lost when it is converted to ATP to
run all cellular processes.