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Science Unit A Chapter 4 Ecology: Lesson 1 An ecosystem is all the living and nonliving parts in an area. Living things include plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, etc. Nonliving things include soil, sunlight, temperature, nutrients, and water. Ecology is the study of the relationship among living and nonliving parts in an area. Many different species live together in a tropical rain forest. Habitat is the physical place where a species lives. A niche is the role a species plays in its ecosystem. All members of a species that live in an area make up a population. All the populations living in one area make up a community. The different populations of a community interact and depend on each other. They also interact and depend on the nonliving parts in an ecosystem. Most nutrients in the tropical rain forest are found in living things Tropical rain forests: Have about the same amount of sunlight each day The temperature stays about the same all year long There are no short winter days Lesson 2 Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use sunlight to make sugar from carbon dioxide and water. Plants and other organisms that use light energy to make sugar from carbon dioxide and water are called producers. All organisms, including animals that depend on other organisms for food are called consumers. All organisms that are not producers are consumers. Consumers give off carbon dioxide for the producers to use. Three kinds of consumers include: herbivores – those that eat only plants; ex. howler monkey carnivores – those that eat only animals; ex. jaguars omnivores – those that eat both plants and animals; ex. humans There are also some specialized consumers. They are vital to life on earth. When a living thing dies in the rain forest, specialized organisms rapidly break it down and release its nutrients. Plants reuse these nutrients for their own growth. A scavenger is an animal that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms. Ex. bush dogs, vultures A decomposer, such as bacteria, fungi, helps break down and decay dead organisms and the wastes of living things and change them into simple nutrients that can be taken up by plants and recycled in ecosystems. Without decomposers, soil would not contain enough nutrients for plants to grow. Lesson 3 Life on the earth depends on the sun’s energy. All the energy that consumers get comes from plants, directly or indirectly. A food chain shows the path of energy and nutrient flow in an ecosystem. The ultimate source of energy is, in nearly all cases the sun. An energy pyramid shows the amount of energy available to organisms at each level in the feeding order. At each level, some energy is used to maintain the life processes of the organisms in that level. The first level represents the energy trapped by the trees and all the producers in the rain forest. This energy is lost as heat. A food web is a diagram of the feeding relationships among organisms in a community. It links together the different food chains in a community. Lesson 4 The amount of material that cycle through an ecosystem stays the same. The opposite of photosynthesis is respiration. Respiration is the process by which organisms use oxygen and sugar to release energy, water, and carbon dioxide. Nitrogen Cycle Nitrogen is a substance that is essential for life. It is a part of all proteins, materials cells use for growth and repair. The amount of Nitrogen stays the same, but it used over and over. Nearly 80% of the air you breathe is nitrogen gas. Most organisms cannot use this form of nitrogen. They need nitrogen compounds. Nitrogen compounds can be formed by lightning combine with other substances or some kinds of bacteria can also change nitrogen gas into nitrogen compounds. Bacteria and other decomposers break down organic matter and in the process release forms of nitrogen that plants can use. In this way, nitrogen is recycled in the environment. Water Cycle Water cycles through living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.