Download The Biosphere

Unit 2AEcology
The Biosphere:
• all life on Earth and all the parts of
the Earth where life exists
• Ecology is the study of the
interactions of all of the organisms
and their environments in the
biosphere
Levels of Organization in
the Biosphere
1. Organism- one individual of a certain
species
2. Population- group of individuals of the
same species living in the same area
3. Community- different populations living
together in the same area
4. Ecosystem- all the organisms in a certain
place together with their physical
environment
5. Biome- a group of ecosystems with similar
climates and typical organisms
6. The Biosphere- all living things from all
biomes on the planet
• Where is the biosphere located and what does it
include?
o The biosphere is everywhere on our planet where there is
life. This can be far above the land where birds fly, deep
into the oceans where sea creatures live, or even deep
underground where extreme bacteria can inhabit vents
and volcanoes. It includes all the living things and the
abiotic features of the planet that they interact with and
rely upon.
o Because there is life nearly everywhere on Earth, the word
biosphere is a very broad term and the Earth itself is
essentially our biosphere.
Fill in each box with the correct level of organization in the biosphere (the size of the box indicates the broadness of each category).
Include a word or two to help you remember what each grouping means.
__________________-
________________-
________________-
________________-
__________________Population-
Levels of
Organization in
the Biosphere
_____________________-
Environments:
• The conditions or
factors surrounding
an organism
• Consist of biotic
and abiotic factors
Biotic Factors
• Any living part of the environment
• Includes animals, plants, fungi,
bacteria, etc.
Abiotic Factors
• Any nonliving (physical) part of the
environment
• Examples: sunlight, heat, precipitation,
humidity, wind, water, soil, etc.
What are the Biotic and Abiotic
Factors in this Environment?
Biotic and Abiotic Factors are
Closely Linked
The mucky
shoreline,
biotic, abiotic
or both?
Both!
Abiotic- soil, water,
sand, etc.
Biotic- bacteria,
fungi, small
animals like worms,
etc.
What Is a Biome?
• Large regions of land that are characterized
by a specific type of climate and certain
types of plant and animal communities.
• Made up of many individual ecosystems
• Vary according to their location from the
equator (latitude)
Biomes of the World
In which biome is Livingston, NJ located?
“Temperate forest”, also called “temperate deciduous forest”
Temperate (Deciduous)
Forrest
• Has both deciduous and
coniferous trees
• Deciduous trees shed leave
in autumn
• Cold winters, warm summers
• Soils are fertile
• Some animals hibernate in
winter, others migrate to
warmer climates, others
camouflage in winter when
trees are bare
Energy,
Producers,
and
Consumers
Energy
• Organisms must get energy in order to
function
• Different organisms get their energy in
different ways
• Almost all energy on Earth starts from
the sun!
1. Autotrophs
• Organisms that capture energy from
sunlight or chemicals and turn it into
food
• Also called primary producers
Primary Producers
• Most commonly use energy from the sun to
create sugars and starches (photosynthesis)
• Important examples: plants, algae,
photosynthetic bacteria
Chemosynthesis
• When primary producers turn the
energy in chemicals (like hydrogen
sulfide) into carbohydrates.
o Mostly bacteria
o Found in extreme environments (deep ocean, hot springs,
volcanoes)
2. Heterotrophs
• Eat other organisms for food.
• Also called consumers
Types of Consumers
* Put these
definitions in the
correct bubbles on
pg. 5 in the notes.
Classified by the way they acquire energy
• Carnivores- kill and eat other animals
• Herbivores- eat plant materials
• Omnivores- eat both plant and animal
materials
• Scavengers- consume carcasses of
organisms that have died or that were killed
by predators
• Decomposers- feed by chemically breaking
down organic matter into detritus, debris
from decomposing plants and animals (Ex:
fungi and bacteria)
• Detritivores- feed on detritus particles (Ex:
earthworms)
Types of
Consumers
Food Chains and
Food Webs
Energy Flows One Way
• Almost all energy on Earth starts from the
sun!
• Energy flows through an ecosystem in a one
way direction from producers to consumers
• Food Chain- a series of steps in
which organisms transfer chemical
energy by eating and being
eaten.
(food molecules are chemicals)
Phytoplankton =
algae that is floating
and not attached to
something
**Read an arrow as “is eaten by”
Food Webs
• Food web- a
network of complex
interactions formed
by the feeding
relationships among
the organisms of an
ecosystem
Algae
Plants
Decomposers and Detritivores
are Important in Food Webs
• Dead plant and animal material must be
broken down so the molecules can be reused
for new life
• Decomposers (bacteria and fungi) are
heterotrophs that break down this dead plant
and animal material into detritus
o This releases nutrients into the soil for new
primary producers to grow (“recycles
nutrients”)
• Detritus is eaten by detritivores (like crayfish,
grass shrimp, and worms), further releasing
nutrients into the soil
Food Web Disturbances
• Environmental
changes can cause
changes in a food
web
Krill
Food Web Disturbances
• How would a decrease in the krill population affect
the Antarctic food web?
• What do ecologists mean when they say that killer
whales indirectly depend on krill for survival?
Trophic Levels
• Each step of a food
chain or food web is
called a trophic level
• First trophic levelalways primary
producers
• All other trophic levels
are occupied by
different types of
consumers
Ecological Pyramids
• Illustrations used to
show the amounts
of energy or matter
in each trophic
level of a food web
• Three types of
pyramids: energy,
biomass, and
numbers
Pyramids of Energy
• Show the amount of
energy available at
each trophic level
• Only 10% of the energy
in one trophic level is
passed to the next level
up.
• The rest of the energy is
either used by the
organisms to do life
processes (like growth,
reproduction,
respiration, etc.), or
released as heat
How much of the energy available to
the producers is available to the
third-level consumers?
Pyramids of Biomass
• Biomass is the total amount of living tissue in a
trophic level
• Primary Producers will have the greatest
biomass
o There must be enough producers to provide energy
for all of the consumers
Pyramids of Numbers
Pyramid of Numbers
• Show the number of
individuals at each trophic
level
• If the main producer is a
large organism, the base
of the numbers pyramid
will be small
Grass
Pyramid of Numbers
Habitat vs.
Niche
Tolerance:
The ability to survive and reproduce under a variety of
environmental circumstances.
Outside the optimum range causes stress (struggling
to maintain homeostasis).
For any environmental factor, going beyond the upper
or lower limit can lead to death.
Habitat
• The general place where an organism
lives
• Organisms will live where they can
tolerate (or handle) the conditions
Niche
• What an organism does in its
habitat, how it interacts with its
environment, and how it
contributes to an ecosystem
• Example:
“The red fox's habitat might include forest edges, meadows and
the bank of a river. The niche of the red fox is that of a predator
which feeds on the small mammals, amphibians, insects, and fruit
found in this habitat. Red foxes are active at night. They provide
blood for blackflies and mosquitoes, and are host to numerous
diseases. The scraps left behind after a fox's meal provide food
for many small scavengers and decomposers.”
Community
Interactions
Competition
• Competition- when
organisms attempt
to use the same
limited ecological
resource in the
same place at the
same time.
o Example: the roots of
different plants compete
for water, nutrients, and
space in the soil
Types of Competition
• Intraspecific- competition
between members of the same
species
• Interspecific- competition
between members of different
species.
The Competitive Exclusion Principle:
• The idea that no two species can
occupy exactly the same niche, in the
same habitat, at the same time
• If two species try to do this, one of
three things can happen:
o 1 species will compete better for the niche and the other
species will die out
o 1 species will compete better for the niche and the other
species will move away
o The two species will split or share the niche. Ex: rainforest
lizards that eat the same bugs can occupy different parts
of the forest
Predator-Prey Relationships
• Predation: an interaction in which one
animal (the predator) captures and feeds
on another animal (the prey)
• Predators can affect the size of prey
populations in a community and determine
the places prey can live and feed.
• Give an example in our ecosystem
Herbivore-Plant
Relationships
Herbivory: an interaction in which one animal (the
herbivore) feeds on producers (such as plants)
• Herbivores can affect both the size and distribution
of plant populations in a community and determine
the places that certain plants can survive and
grow.
• Give an example in our ecosystem
•
Graphing Community
Interactions
What is shown in this graph?
Use the graph to answer the two questions
below it in the notes.
• Keystone Species: a single species that is not usually
abundant in a community yet exerts strong control
on the structure of a community.
Keystone Species
• A species whose presence is important for the
structure of a community
• Example:
Kelp
Sea Urchin
Sea Otter
Due to
hunting
Provide shelter and
food for other animals
What will happen to this community?
Sea otters were a keystone species!
Symbioses
• Any relationship in which two species live
closely together is called symbiosis
• Three main classes of symbiosis:
o Mutualism
o Parasitism
o Commensalism
1. Mutualism
• A relationship in which both
species benefit
• Example: clown fish live in sea
anemones.
o Clown fish are protected
from predators by hiding
inside the stinging
anemone
o The anemone is protected
from being eaten by the
clown fish who wants to
defend its home
2. Parasitism
• When one organism lives in or on another organism
and harms it by obtaining all or part of its nutritional
needs from the host organism.
• Example: Fleas feed on blood and skin of
their hosts; cause discomfort and could
transmit disease
3. Commensalism
• One organism benefits and the other is neither
helped nor harmed
• Example: barnacles (small ocean animals) live on
whales. They do not harm the whale but the
whale’s swimming allows the barnacles to get
constant food particles from the water.
Cycles of Matter
Four Main Elements of
Living Things:
• CHON
• Make up:
o
o
o
o
o
Water
Carbs
Lipids
Nucleic acids
Proteins
Energy & Matter
• Energy flows in a one way direction starting from the
sun (it is not recycled)
• Matter is recycled through the biosphere
Matter is Recycled Within and
Between Ecosystems
• This is different than the one-way flow of energy
through an ecosystem
• Biogeochemical Cycles- process in which elements,
chemical compounds (water and nutrients), and
other forms of matter are passed from one
organism to another and from one part of the
biosphere to another.
Processes in Biogeochemical
Cycles can be…
respiration, photosynthesis, decomposition,
• Biological- Cellular
nitrogen fixation, etc.
rock formation, heat and pressure from
• Geological- Erosion,
the earth
• Chemical- formation of
clouds/precipitation
• Physical- flow of running water
Logging, deforestation, burning fossil fuels,
• Human Activity- wastes, fertilizers
• Energy powers the cycles of matter
• Matter is transformed, never created or destroyed
The Water Cycle
• Water moves between oceans,
atmosphere, and land
• Can be inside or outside of organisms
How does water vapor
enter the atmosphere?
•
•
•
•
Evaporation
Transpiration
Combustion
Respiration
Once water vapor is in the
atmosphere…
•
•
•
•
Condensation
Precipitation
Runoff
Groundwater
Also use evaporation
Nutrient Cycles
• The cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus
through organisms and the environment are
especially important
The Carbon Cycle
• Carbon is a major
component of all
organic compounds.
• found in some
inorganic compounds
• Example: calcium
carbonate (CaCO3) –
molecule that is part of
animal skeletons
• Example: carbon
dioxide (CO2) - major
part of the atmosphere
and necessary for
photosynthesis.
Carbon & Oxygen
• Oxygen often cycles with carbon through
the biosphere, particularly due to
photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
Fossil Fuels
• Fossil Fuels: Energy rich fuels (coal, oil, and natural
gas) created from carbon-containing compounds
of ancient, dead forests, marine organisms, or other
animals have been buried and transformed by
pressure and heat.
• Major reservoirs (locations of large
amounts) of carbon in the biosphere
include the:
o
o
o
o
o
Atmosphere
Oceans
Rocks
Fossil Fuels
Forests
Questions
• Use your knowledge and the carbon cycle diagram
in the notes packet to complete the questions on
pg. 16 of the notes.
• bromothymol blue 3:20
The Nitrogen Cycle
• Nitrogen is required to make amino acids and
nucleic acids
Forms of Nitrogen
• Different forms of nitrogen occur naturally in the
biosphere.
• Nitrogen gas (N2)makes up 78% of earth’s
atmosphere.
• Ammonia (NH3), nitrate ions (NO3-), nitrite ions (NO2-)
are found in soil, in the wastes produced by many
organisms, and in dead and decaying organic
matter.
• Dissolved nitrogen exists in several forms in the
ocean and other large water bodies
Nitrogen gas is the most
abundant form of nitrogen
on Earth.
• Only a handful of organisms – certain types of
bacteria – can use this form directly.
• They “change” (=fix) the nitrogen into usable forms
• The usable forms can then be used by other
organisms
• Thus, nitrogen-fixing bacteria are an essential part
of the nitrogen cycle.
• Nitrogen Fixation: The conversion of Nitrogen Gas
(not usable) into Ammonia, Nitrates, and Nitrites
(usable) by bacteria.
• Some of these bacteria live in the soil whereas
others live on the roots of certain plants called
legumes (ex. peanuts, peas, soybeans).
• Bacteria are the driving force of the nitrogen cycle!
• Once these forms of nitrogen are available, primary
producers can use them to make proteins and
nucleic acids.
• Consumers eat the producers and reuse nitrogen to
make their own nitrogen-containing compounds
(and so on through the food web).
Answer the questions on pg.
18 of the notes packet
Fertilizers Contain
Nitrogen & Phosphorus
• Eutrophication: excess
growth of algae due to
increased levels of fertilizers
in the water.
o Creates an algal bloom
o Algae takes oxygen from other
organisms and may release toxins