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Transcript
ECOSYSTEMS
YEAR NINE
SCIENCE
ECOLOGY:
 Students
to Use Booklet- as well!-starter ex
in booklet
 DEFINITIONS:-give sheet and add/fill in
these
 interdependence- all living things rely on
each other for survival
 Ecology-study of organisms interact with
each other and their environment
 Interact- means they affect each other in
some way
 Environment- all the factors in an
organism’s life /surroundings that affect it.
 Habitat- area where animals live
ECOSYSTEMS
 Where
living organisms interact with each
other and their physical environment
 Three main components
 Physical things-rocks/soil/water
 Living organisms
 Living and non living factors that make
up the environment-gases, water supply
etc
 Some ecosystems exist on their own-lake
ecosystems etc
 Organisms are affected by two main sets
of factors
ABIOTIC AND BIOTIC FACTORS
 Abiotic-non-living
Air,
water, light quality/intensity,
temperature, wind, soil type,
humidity, waves, lightening fire!
 Biotic-living
These are the living factors
Predators-who is eating who
Infectious organisms that affect
others
Competing organisms for food
ABIOTIC IN DETAIL

WATER-essential for all chemical reactions in cells and therefore
essential for life


Often the most vital factor for survival
TEMPERATURE: Heat affects the speed of chemical reactions;
often the higher the temp the less effective these reactions
are or they won’t occur at all.
 Certain organisms have different optimum temps that
they work best at!
 Fish/reptiles/amphibians-cold blooded but lie in the sun
to get the correct temp for their cellular reactions to
occur
 ECTOTHERMIC- Body heat is gained from the
environment rather than from generating it inside the
body.
 ENDOTHERMIC-Humans, birds and other mammals are
called warm blooded as they have the ability to
generate heat internally and control heat loss (think
back to endocrine system and heat control)

Could do activity page 283-FISH SHAPES
CONT:
 FIRE-
Some fires start by lightening
 Australian
Aboriginals have used fire for ages
to keep the bushland under control/open
and improve the growth of plants
 There are some native plants which need the
extreme heat/and chemicals released by the
smoke of fire to open their seed pods and
allow them to regenerate
 LIGHT-obviously
photosynthesis
 Uses
necessary for
light, water and carbon dioxide to
manufacture food
AND THERE’S MORE!
 SOIL
TYPE: not all soils are the same- some
have more nutrients than others!-hold
more water
 GAS LEVELS –Oxygen, is needed for
respiration, usually enough in air but can
change in water. Cold water has more
oxygen than warm water
Biotic factors
 Organisms
do not live alone-surrounded
by other living things-plants, animals and
microorganisms
 The living things in an ecosystem form a
community-and they interact with each
other.
 The interactions between living things ARE
THE BIOTIC factors
Biotic factors in detail:
 COMPETITION:
this when organisms
compete for the same resource e.g. food
 Competition occurs between members of
the same species
 There is limited resources and therefore
some individuals will not survive.
 PREDATION- When one eats another!- a
type of feeding relationship
MUTUALISM:
 This
is a relationship in which two
organisms live closely together and both
benefit.
 E.g. cleaner shrimp on the fish- the shrimp
eat the parasites to keep the fish healthyone gets health the other food!
 Pollination is another example of
mutualism-flowers depend on birds and
insects to pollinate/results in seeds/more
flowers reproduced.
POLLINATION
PARASITISM



In this relationship one organism lives off
another and feeds off it.
The parasite doesn’t survive without the host
and usually harms it in the process. E.g
caterpillar attacked by a wasp.
COMMENSALISM:-this is when one organisms
benefits but the other is not harmed nor gains
anything from the relationship –Strawberry
poison arrow frog=raises young in bromeliad
plants but doesn’t harm them
ADAPTATIONS
 Adaptations
are when an organisms has
features that enable it to cope with the
abiotic and biotic factors of its
environment.
 The features are the adaptations- i.e long
legs, fur colour, ability to concentrate
urine in drought times, etc.
 Adaptations are divided into three
categories:



Structural
Behavioural
Functional/physiological
Structural Adaptations
 This
is when an organism has a body part that
helps it survive a specific environment e.g.


Wings to fly
Sharp beak to catch food
Behavioural Adaptations

A feature of the organism’s habits
e.g.
Animals
that only come out at night to
feed-avoid the heat
Dolphins that echolocation- send
sounds that bounce off objects in the
water to help them know what is near
Functional Adaptations
 This
is a feature that is involved with the
way the organisms body works. E.g.
When you exercise your heart beats fastergreater blood supply to muscles- functional
because it is involuntary-you do not control
it.
 Sometimes called physiological
adaptations
ADAPTATIONS PRACTICAL BOOKLET

9.2 SUSTAINABILITY
 This
means the living conditions of an
ecosystem can be maintained.
 FOOD- essential in any ecosystem for
survival


Contains the matter and energy needed
by the organisms
Ecosystems are described using feeding
relationships-who eats who and what is the
flow of energy
PRODUCERS
 Every
community has producers- the
basic food source-green plants mainlysometimes bacteria-producers are
absolutely essential for an ecosystems
survival :NO PRODUCERS=NO LIFE
 CONSUMERS-Any organism that needs to
eat another for survival is a consumer
 All the food we eat comes from a
producer originally i.e bread from wheat
etc
photosynthesis
 Producers
make their food via
photosynthesis:


A chemical process whereby carbon
dioxide and light energy and water is
converted to glucose and oxygen
Occurs in the cells of plants in the
chloroplasts which contain the substance
chlorophyll
Practical page
299-copied
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
Photosynthesis cont:
 In
land plants carbon dioxide is absorbed
form the air and the water through the
roots
 Glucose that is made is vital for the plant
 The plants use it to make all the other
molecules a plant needs to live like
proteins, fats and vitamins
 Sugar/glucose is often turned to starch
and stored in the leaves until the plant
needs it again
FOOD WEBS & CHAINS






In communities we see food chains- who eats
who and how is the energy passed on from
the producer up the line/chain of consumers
We see 1st order, 2nd order and 3 rd order
consumers
I WILL DO THESE ON BOARD- GET READY TO
COPY
PG 291 PEARSONS
FOOD WEBS: - These are just a collection of
“chains” and show the more complex
feeding relationships within an ecosystem
Pg 292
Food webs
Recycling of Matter
 Most
important in any food web are the
decomposers.
 Fungi, and bacteria can break down
dead and decomposing organisms and
recycle the nutrients/matter for the
producers to use.
 Without decomposers the ecosystems
would not keep functioning.
 Draw fig 9.2.6 form Pearson pg 292 on
board/in books
Energy Flow in Ecosystems
 Energy
doesn’t cycle through like matter
does.
 Energy is continuous-lost as fast as it is
gained
 Energy flows in this way:
We eat because we need food for cells to
grow and repair
 To provide us with energy to move
In Ecosystems energy flows from one
organism to another as it is eaten.

Energy
Flow Cont:
 Only
the food held in the body cells of one
organism is available as energy to the next in
the chain or web
 This is because the organisms would have used
lots of the energy it has taken in from eating to
move and reproduce and grow etc.
 It is only 10% of all energy taken in by an
organism that is actually available to the next
level up the chain.
 It is the progressive loss of energy up a chain
which makes them short-or only really up to
about 4 consumers long after the producer.
 See next slide for diagram
Energy Flow through a food chain
Carnivore 1 kg
Producer
1000kg
Herbivore
100kg
0100
1000 Energy
UNITS
900 units of
Energy units energy lost
units
–used by mouse
Carnivore
10kg
10 units
90 units lost-
used by snake
9 energy
units lostused by
eagle
Biomass Pyramid
1 kg
Eagle
10 kg
Of snakes
100 kg
Of Mice
1000 kg of grass
Biomass Pyramids
 Pyramids
of Biomass show the total mass
of organisms at each stage of a chain
 They are useful because they allow
ecologists to understand total productivity
of an area.
 Productivity means how well this area
supports life.
 Comparing different ecosystems and their
productivity is useful for farming, fisheries
and wildlife conversation.
BIODIVERSITY



The range of different species in a community
High biodiversity-lots of species-less affected by human
impact/or environmental disruption to an ecosystem
What sort of things can “invade” ecosystems:
Foreign animals
 Foreign plants/weeds
 The more bio- diverse a community is less the effect of
introduced species
Other changes:
 Weather-may mean more flowers-more bees, as have
more food to survive-more honey eaters etc.- therefore
bird populations increase and eventually bee population
decreases again- and then the birds will too eventually,
decrease.
 Feeding patterns practical=coloured cards /discuss pg 295
 ? Endangered species assignment

9.2 HUMAN IMPACT
 Many
natural events affect ecosystems
Seasonal changes
 Bushfires
 Droughts
 Floods
Bushfires:
Can be lit by humans
Maybe lightning strikes
Fires have affected for longer than humans
have
Often promotes the germination of plant
species and therefore regeneration of natural
forests in Australia.

Bushfires cont:
 Eucalypts
have oils that catch fire easily
 Litter fuels the fires
 Dead leaves etc do too
 Eucalypts also regenerate quickly and
gives them an advantage over other
species
 They are adapted in various ways
 Thick bark-insulates the cells underneath
 Other plants only return by seeds being
dropped there by animals /birds etc
Droughts
 Extended
periods of no rainfall at all
 Changes to an ecosystem include
increase death rate- at times to point of
extinction
 Plant death removes food source for even
more animals species
 Loss of plants-soil erosion
 Australia has regular droughts- but many
organisms in these areas are adapted
 However-long droughts still cause death
Flooding
 When
water temporarily covers land not
normally covered
 Rivers overflow banks- has occurred in
Queensland, NSW etc.
 Floods affect ecosystems both negatively
and positively


Negative- death of native plants and
animals due to drowning of roots/no
oxygen or exposure
Positive-new soil deposited, rapid plant
growth-new species arrive-rapid growthmore food and so on…
Human Impact
 Habitat
destruction- housing/road
building
 Logging
 Mining
Is repairable if enough known about the
ecosystem
Some species have reducedRat kangaroo
Potoroo
Bilby
Honey eater
Introduced species
 Plants
and animals that have been
brought to Australia- not natural
 Some are predators
 Some established in the wild- FERALdomestic cats and foxes
 Rabbits
 Donkeys
 Goats
 etc
Chemical
pesticides





Some of the early pesticides/insecticides used
have been found to be more dangerous than
to just the insects
DDT increased along the food chain due to
increased consumption of organisms below in
a food chain.
Birds badly affected-prevented eggs form
developing-young died out-no adults=no
species
Humans accumulated it in breast milk if
exposed-cancer, diabetes, reproductive
issues
Even though some don not accumulate still
not safe and cause problems- can spread to
other plants etc
CHEMICAL POLLUTION
 Claims
carbon dioxide is polluting earths
atmosphere-global warming
 Enhanced green house effect




Carbon dioxide absorbs some heat radiated by the
earth –warming the atmosphere
Some feel gases such as methane and even water
vapour have issues too
Some scientist argue against it all
The problem is as: temperatures rise-polar ice caps
melt-sea levels rise-land covered in water- death
Over cropping
 No
!! Not an issue with your editing skills!
 Killing more animals than can be
replaced by normal breeding cycles
 Whale populations have been affected in
this manner
 Blue whales are now protected but
recovery is slow.
 Human endeavour-page 308+