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Chapter 16 notes- Ecosystem What is an ecosystem? All of earth’s inhabitants are interwoven in a complex web of relationships. Ecology explains how living organisms affect each other and the world they live in by studying the interactions taking place between the organisms and their environment. An ecosystem consists of a community (organisms) and the physical aspects (environment) of its habitat. Habitat versus Niche- Habitat is the place where an organism lives and a niche is an organism’s total way of life Examples: The nonliving parts of the environment are known as abiotic factors Examples: The living pasts of the environment are known as biotic factors Examples: Diverse communities in Ecosystems Biodiversity is the measure of the living species living within an ecosystem Some of the species living within an ecosystem are more obvious- for example deer, trees, and bunny rabbits. Others are less obvious, worms in the ground, fungi growing on the trees, bacteria in the soil. The boundaries of an ecosystem are not always clearly defined and are almost never totally isolated. organisms can migrate into and out of ecosystems. Individual Change in ecosystems over time Examples of newly formed habitats: The first organisms to live in a new habitat are known as pioneer species. These are typically going to be small, fast-growing plants that make the ground hospitable for other species; many times these species are overtaken by the plant immigrants that start inhabiting the habitat as time goes by. This progression of the replacement of species over time is known as succession. Energy Flow in ecosystems Ecologists study how energy moves through an ecosystem by assigning organisms in that ecosystem to a specific level or trophic level based on the organisms source of energy Energy flow in ecosystems originally comes from the sun Energy flows through ecosystems from producers (make food) to various levels of consumers (use food by eating producers or other consumers) Primary producers are autotrophs (self feeding) which means they make their own food by converting sunlight or chemicals to chemical energy Niche of a producer: captures energy and transforms into chemical energy, photoautotroph (plants) use light energy and chemoautotroph (cyanobacteria) use chemical energy Consumers are heterotrophs that eat other organisms to obtain energy Herbivores- eat only plants (cows) Carnivores- eat only other animals (tigers) Omnivores- eat both plants and animals (humans) Detritivores- feed on dead plan and animal remains (buzzards) Decomposers- cause decay (bacteria and fungi) The energy flowing through and ecosystem can be charted in one of two ways 1) food chain- simple path through the ecosystem 2) food web- an interconnected group of food chains which provides a more realistic energy pathway Food chain: sun, plant, animal, animal Food web: (arrows go towards organism that is eating the other organism) During every transfer of energy within an ecosystem, energy is lost as heat energy. Therefore, the amount of useful energy decreases with every increase in trophic level. - only 10% of the energy is transferred to the next trophic level, meaning 90% is lost between trophic levels - Energy pyramid shows the flow of energy by representing each trophic level with blocks, producers making up the bottom of the pyramid and the top carnivore making up the top. - Biomass is the dry weight of tissue and other organic matter found in a specific ecosystem which can also be represented by a pyramid. Each level on the pyramid contains only 10 percent of the biomass of the trophic level below it. Water cycle: Carbon Cycle: Nitrogen Cycle: