Download V. How is matter cycled?

Ch. 3 & 4
Ecology Notes
I. What is Ecology?
A. Ecology – study of interactions between organisms
and their environment
Everything is connected
to everything else
I. What is Ecology?
1. Out of ALL of nature’s “houses”, the largest one is the
biosphere.
a. Biosphere – all the portions of Earth where life
exists (including land, water, and air/atmosphere)
2. The study of ecology ranges from studying an
individual organism up until the entire biosphere.
I. What is Ecology?
B. Let’s break it down . . .
1. Organism – any individual living thing
a. Species – organisms that breed and
produce fertile offspring
I. What is Ecology?
b. Habitat – where an organism lives
Example: A zebra lives in the African
Savanna.
c. Niche – an organism’s role in the
environment
Example: Zebras eat grass.
I. What is Ecology?
2. Population – group of same species living
in the same area
a. Example: Elephants in the
Savanna.
I. What is Ecology?
3. Community – populations of different
species living in the same area
a. Example: Elephants, lions, and zebras
in the Savanna.
Community
I. What is Ecology?
4. Ecosystem – all the biotic (living) and abiotic
(nonliving) parts of an environment
a. Example: Soil, water, air, rock,
lions, zebras in the Savanna.
Ecosystem
I. What is Ecology?
5. Biome – group of ecosystems that have
the same climate and dominant vegetation
a. Example: Savanna
I. What is Ecology?
b. What major biomes are found
throughout the world?
Rainforest
high biodiversity
lots of rain, lots of sunlight, always warm
many plants & animals
Savanna
mid biodiversity
dry season/wet season, always warm
frequent fires in dry season
many herbivores
Desert
low biodiversity
very dry, hot in day & cold at night
very few plants & only small animals:
reptiles, insects, rodents, birds
Temperate Grassland (Midwest U.S.)
mid biodiversity
dry season/wet season, cold winters/hot summers
frequent fires in dry season
many herbivores
Temperate Deciduous Forest
high biodiversity
4 seasons: warm summer with rains, cold winter with snow
deciduous trees, many mammals, insects, birds, etc.
Coniferous Forest (Taiga)
mid biodiversity
northern forest, drier, cooler
evergreens, mammals, birds, insects, etc.
Tundra
low biodiversity
cold year round, dry, permafrost
only lichens & mosses & mostly migrating animals
II. How does an ecosystem work?
A. For life to continue within the ecosystem, three
things must take place.
1. The sun is the main source of energy for all
life on Earth.
2. The cycling of matter and
nutrients.
3. Gravity helps to hold
everything in place, including
the atmosphere and helps to
move nutrients through their
cycles.
II. How does an ecosystem work?
B. All things in an ecosystem can be classified as
biotic or abiotic.
1. Biotic – anything living (or once living)
Example:
2. Abiotic – anything nonliving (never alive)
Example:
II. How does an ecosystem work?
C. Classification of Organisms
1. Producers/Autotrophs – organisms who
make their own food, usually through
photosynthesis
a. Example: Plants, algae, some bacteria
II. How does an ecosystem work?
b. Chemosynthesis – method used by
bacteria to create food in the absence of
light using hydrogen sulfide gas
Example: Bacteria that live in deep sea
vents.
II. How does an ecosystem work?
2. Consumers/Heterotrophs – organisms who
cannot make their own food, and must
consume food to survive
a. Herbivores - feed on
plants/producers
- Also called
primary
consumers.
- Example:
II. How does an ecosystem work?
nly
b. Carnivores – feed on other
animals/consumers
- Secondary Consumers – feed
on primary consumers
- Example:
- Tertiary Consumers – feed
only on secondary consumers
- Example:
II. How does an ecosystem work?
c. Omnivores – feed on both producers
and consumers
- Example: Raccoons, bears, rats
II. How does an ecosystem work?
d. Detrivore Consumers – feed only on
detritus
- Detritus – parts of dead organisms, wastes
of organisms
- Example: Earthworms, crabs, ants
II. How does an ecosystem work?
e. Decomposers – break down organic matter
so that it can be recycled
- Example: Bacteria, Fungi
III. How does energy move through
ecosystems??
A. Remember, energy can only flow in one direction.
1. Energy flows from sun  producers  consumers.
III. How does energy move through
ecosystems??
2. Methods to examine energy flow through an
ecosystem:
a. Food Chain – a series of steps where organisms
transfer energy by eating and being eaten; shows
one feeding relationship
- Example:
III. How does energy move through
ecosystems??
b. Food Web – multiple linked food chains
demonstrating the complex interactions in a
community; shows many feeding relationships
- Example:
III. How does energy move through
ecosystems??
III. How does energy move through
ecosystems??
c. Each step in a food chain or food web is called
a trophic level.
- Producers – 1st trophic level
- Consumers – 2nd, 3rd, 4th trophic levels
III. How does energy move through
ecosystems??
d. Trophic levels
- Each consumer depends upon the trophic level
below it for energy!
- Only 10 % of the energy is transferred from
level to level.
- The other 90% is used by the organism for
metabolism, respiration, movement,
reproduction, growth, and given off as body
heat.
III. How does energy move through
ecosystems??
sun
secondary
consumers
(carnivores)
loss of
energy
loss of
energy
primary consumers
(herbivores)
loss of
energy
producers (plants)
III. How does energy move through
ecosystems??
e. Ecological Pyramids – illustrate the relative
amounts of energy or matter contained within
Numbers
each trophic level
1
100
100,000
1,000,000,000
III. How does energy move through
ecosystems??
- Energy Pyramid – illustrates the amount of
energy usually in kCals or Joules (J), available
III. How does energy move through
ecosystems??
- Biomass Pyramid – illustrates the total
amount of living tissue in a trophic level,
usually in g/unit area
III. How does energy move through
ecosystems??
- Numbers Pyramid – illustrates the actual
number of individual organisms in each
trophic level
III. How does energy move through
ecosystems??
IV. Community Interactions
IV. Community Interactions
A. Symbiosis – relationship in which two species live closely
together
1. Mutualism – a relationship where both species benefit
a. Example: Flowers depend on bees to pollinate
them.
- Flowers  Reproduce
- Bees  Get food
b. Example: Birds on back of buffalo.
- Birds  Food
- Buffalo  Get cleaned/protections from
parasites
IV. Community Interactions
2. Commensalism – a relationship where one species
benefits and the other is unaffected
a. Example: Barnacles attaching to a whale.
- Barnacle  Filters water to get food
- Whale  Unaffected
b. Example: Orchids growing up trees in
Rainforest.
- Orchids  More sunlight
- Tree  Unaffected
IV. Community Interactions
3. Parasitism – a relationship where one species benefits
and the other is harmed
a. Example: Tick (parasite) on a deer (host).
b. Example: Tapeworms (parasite) in animal
intestines (host).
IV. Community Interactions
B. Other interactions
1. Competition – Organisms attempt to use a
resource at the same time in the same place
IV. Community Interactions
2. Predation – one organism (predator) captures
and kills another organism (prey)
a. Example: Lion hunts and kills wildebeest.
V. How is matter cycled?
A. Remember, there is only one way energy
can flow through an ecosystem, but matter
must be recycled throughout the ecosystem.
1. Energy is moved through parts of
an ecosystem through biogeochemical
cycles.
a. Example: Water, Sulfur,
Phosphorous, Carbon,
Nitrogen Cycles
n
u
t
r
i
e
n
t
s
decomposers
V. How is matter cycled?
B. Nutrients – molecules that an organism
needs to sustain life
1. Used to build tissues and carry out
metabolism.
a. Example: CHONPS
n
u
t
r
i
e
n
t
s
decomposers
V. How is matter cycled?
C. Important Cycles
1. Hydrologic Cycle
a. Importance: Every living thing requires
water.
V. How is matter cycled?
b. Key Processes:
- Evaporation – liquid  gas
- Transpiration – evaporation from plant
leaves
- Condensation – gas  liquid
V. How is matter cycled?
- Precipitation – rain, sleet, snow, hail
- Runoff – water moving downhill into
streams/rivers
- Infiltration – water soaking into the soil
Condensation
Precipitation
Transpiration
Evaporation
Runoff
V. How is matter cycled?
2. Carbon Cycle
a. Importance:
- Carbon is used in making living
tissues and animal skeletons.
V. How is matter cycled?
- Carbon regulates temperature in the
atmosphere (carbon dioxide).
- Plants  Photosynthesis  pass
along glucose in food webs.
V. How is matter cycled?
b. Key Processes:
- Photosynthesis – how autotrophs
produce glucose (food) while removing
carbon dioxide from the air
- CO2 + H2O + Light  C6H12O6 + O2
- Cellular Respiration – how all organisms
break down food to get ATP energy and
release carbon dioxide in the air
- C6H12O6 + O2  CO2 + H2O + ATP
V. How is matter cycled?
- Decomposition – bacteria and fungi
break down dead organisms and release
their nutrients in the soil and carbon
dioxide in the air
- Creates fossil fuels with extreme
pressure
- Combustion – burning of fossil fuels
(coal, oil, natural gas) and trees releases
carbon dioxide into the air; this can lead
to global warming
CO2
Burning
FF
CR by
plants/animals
Fossil
Fuel
PS
Burning
plants
Decomposition
V. How is matter cycled?
3. Nitrogen Cycle
a. 78% of the atmosphere is nitrogen.
However, this is mostly not usable by
animals and plants.
V. How is matter cycled?
b. Importance:
- Plants and animals could not live without
nitrogen.
- Nitrogen makes up the cell parts of living
things, as well as amino acids, proteins, and
DNA.
- Nitrogen is needed to make chlorophyll in
plants, which is needed for plants to go
through photosynthesis.
V. How is matter cycled?
c. Key Processes:
- Fixation – Bacteria changes nitrogen into
ammonia.
V. How is matter cycled?
- Nitrification – Ammonia changes into
nitrates by bacteria. Nitrates are what
plants can absorb.
V. How is matter cycled?
- Assimilation – Plants absorb nitrates from
soil. Nitrogen gets used in amino acids,
nucleic acids, and chlorophyll.
V. How is matter cycled?
- Ammonification – When a plant/animal
dies, decomposers break nitrogen down into
ammonia, so nitrogen can re-enter the
cycle.
V. How is matter cycled?
- Denitrification – Bacteria transfer any
extra nitrogen in the soil back out into the
air.