Biology – Unit 2 Ecology
Dec 27, 2015
Ecology- the study of how organisms interact with each other and with their environment
Part 1 – Lesson 3.1 What is Ecology?
Abiotic FactorsAbiotic factors- the nonliving parts of the environment.• They include:
• Sunlight• Water• Temperature• Wind• Soil type• The atmosphere
• The types and amounts of abiotic factors that are available in an ecosystem help determine which organisms can live there.
Biotic Factorsbiotic factors- all the living things or once-living things in an environment.• Ex:
• Animals• Plants• Bacteria• Fungi
Organization In The EnvironmentThe biosphere consists of all life on Earth and all parts of the Earth in which life exists, including land, water, and the atmosphere.
Biome — a geographic area that contain groups of ecosystems with similar biotic and abiotic features.
• Terrestrial (land) Biomes include:• Forests• Deserts• Tundra• Grasslands
Ecosystem—all the organisms that live in a place, together with their physical environment(abiotic factors)
• The types and amounts of abiotic factors that are available in an ecosystem help determine which organisms can live there
Organism- any unicellular or multicellular form exhibiting all of the characteristics of life, an individual
Part 1 – Lesson 3.2 Energy, Producers, and Consumers
• All Life on Earth needs energy for cell processes.
• For most life on Earth, sunlight is the ultimate energy source.
• Organisms get energy by using light or chemical energy to make food or by eating other organisms
PRODUCERS• Producers change the energy available in their
environment into food energy. • They make their own food (autotrophs)
• Plants, algae, and some microorganisms use a chemical process called photosynthesis to change light energy into chemical energy (Glucose)
• This process adds oxygen to the atmosphere and removes carbon dioxide.
Life Without Light• Biologists have discovered thriving
ecosystems around volcanic vents in total darkness on the deep ocean floor.
• Deep-sea ecosystems depend on primary producers that harness chemical energy from inorganic molecules such as hydrogen sulfide.
• The use of chemical energy to produce carbohydrates is called chemosynthesis. giant tube worms
live in symbiosis with the chemosynthetic bacteria
Consumers
• Consumers- organisms that cannot make their own food and get their energy from eating other organisms. (heterotrophs)
• Producers and Consumers use the chemical process of Cellular Respiration to break down food in the presence of oxygen to produce energy.
Types of Consumers
• Consumers are classified by the ways in which they acquire energy and nutrients.
• Herbivores-obtain energy and nutrients by eating plant leaves, roots, seeds, or fruits.
Types of Consumers
• Decomposers-such as bacteria and fungi, feed by chemically breaking down organic matter.
• The decay caused by decomposers is part of the process that produces detritus—small pieces of dead and decaying plant and animal remains.
• Decomposers that live on, and in, detritus particles are called Detrivores.• They feed on detritus particles,
often chewing or grinding them into smaller pieces. Ex: giant earthworms
Opening Assignment:
• List the levels of organization of life.
• Explain the difference between biotic and abiotic factors in ecosystems and give 3 examples of each.
• Each time one organism eats another organism, a transfer of energy occurs
• Food chain- models how energy flows in an ecosystem through feeding relationships.
Part 2 – Lesson 3.3 Energy Flow in Ecosystems
Food Webs Food web- links all of the food chains in an ecosystem together.
• It shows many feeding relationships that are possible in an ecosystem
An example of a food web in the Everglades is shown.
Trophic Levels and Energy Pyramids
• Each step in a food chain or food web is called a trophic level.
• Primary producers always make up the first trophic level.
• Various consumers occupy every other level
• Energy pyramids- show the amount of food energy available at each trophic level
Trophic Levels and Energy Pyramids
• Energy pyramids- show the amount of food energy available at each trophic level
• Each time energy is transferred from one organism to another, lost and less energy is available at the next trophic level.
Trophic Levels and Energy Pyramids
• Energy is lost: as heat through cellular respiration.
o this energy is used to carry out functions of living things such as producing new cells, regulation of body temperature, and moving around
Trophic Levels and Energy Pyramids
• The remaining 10% of the energy becomes part of the organism’s body and is stored in its molecules.
• This 10% is available to the next trophic level when one organism consumes another organism
Part 2 – Lesson 3.4 Cycles of Matter• Learning Goals: Students will be able to . . • Identify and describe the flow of nutrients in
each biogeochemical cycle. • Explain the impact that humans have on the
biogeochemical cycles.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09_sWPxQymA
Two Secrets of Survival: Energy Flow and Matter Recycle
• An ecosystem survives by a combination of energy flow and matter recycling.
Figure 3-14
MATTER CYCLING IN ECOSYSTEMS
• Nutrient Cycles: Global Recycling• Global Cycles recycle nutrients through the earth’s air,
land, water, and living organisms.• Nutrients are the elements and compounds that
organisms need to live, grow, and reproduce.• Biogeochemical cycles move these substances
through air, water, soil, rock and living organisms.
What Sustains Life on Earth?
• Solar energy, the cycling of matter, and gravity sustain the earth’s life.
Figure 3-7
Fig. 3-26, p. 72
PrecipitationPrecipitation
Transpiration
Condensation
Evaporation
Ocean storage
Transpiration from plants
Precipitation to land
Groundwater movement (slow)
Evaporation from land Evaporation
from ocean Precipitation to ocean
Infiltration and Percolation
Rain clouds
RunoffSurface runoff
(rapid)
Surface runoff (rapid)
The Water Cycle
Effects of Human Activities on Water Cycle
• We alter the water cycle by:• Withdrawing large amounts of freshwater.• Clearing vegetation and eroding soils.• Polluting surface and underground water.• Contributing to climate change.
1. Plants remove carbon dioxide from the air. 2. When the plants died, they were buried in the earth. 3. After millions of years, their remains turned into coal and oil. 4. People mine the earth for coal and oil, which are called
"fossil fuels". 5. When people burn fossil fuels, they send carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases into the air.
Effects of Human Activities on Carbon Cycle
• We alter the carbon cycle by adding excess CO2 to the atmosphere through:• Burning fossil fuels.• Clearing vegetation
faster than it is replaced.
Figure 3-28
• This picture shows the flow of the nitrogen cycle. The most important part of the cycle is bacteria. Bacteria help the nitrogen change between states so it can be used. When nitrogen is absorbed by the soil, different bacteria help it to change states so it can be absorbed by plants. Animals then get their nitrogen from the plants.
Steps in the Nitrogen cycle1. Fixation - Fixation is the first step in the process of making
nitrogen usable by plants. Here bacteria change nitrogen into ammonium.
2. Nitrification - this is the process by which ammonium gets changed into nitrates by bacteria. Nitrates are what the plants can then absorb.
3. Assimilation - This is how plants get nitrogen. They absorb nitrates from the soil into their roots. Then the nitrogen gets used in amino acids, nucleic acids, and chlorophyll.
4. Ammonification - This is part of the decaying process. When a plant or animal dies, decomposers like fungi and bacteria turn the nitrogen back in ammonium so it can reenter the nitrogen cycle.
5. Denitrification - Extra nitrogen in the soil gets put back out into the air. There are special bacteria that perform this task as well.
Fig. 3-31, p. 77
Dissolvedin Ocean
Water
Marine Sediments Rocks
uplifting overgeologic time
settling out weatheringsedimentation
LandFoodWebs
Dissolvedin Soil Water,Lakes, Rivers
death,decomposition
uptake byautotrophs
agriculture
leaching, runoff
uptake byautotrophs
excretion
death,decomposition
mining Fertilizer
weathering
Guano
MarineFoodWebs
The Phosphorous Cycle
Steps of the Phosphorous Cycle
• 1. Phosphate is released by the erosion of rocks.2. Plants and fungi take up the phosphate with their roots.3. Phosphorus moves from producers to consumers via food chain.4. Phosphorus may seep into groundwater from soil, over time forming into rock.5. When these rocks erode, the cycle begins again.
Effects of Human Activities on the Phosphorous Cycle
• We remove large amounts of phosphate from the earth to make fertilizer.
• We reduce phosphorous in tropical soils by clearing forests.
• We add excess phosphates to aquatic systems from runoff of animal wastes and fertilizers.
Fig. 3-32, p. 78
Hydrogen sulfide
Sulfur
Sulfate salts
Decaying matter
Animals
Plants
Ocean
IndustriesVolcano
Hydrogen sulfideOxygen
Dimethyl sulfide
Ammoniumsulfate
Ammonia
Acidic fog and precipitationSulfuric acid
WaterSulfurtrioxide
Sulfur dioxide
Metallicsulfidedeposits
The Sulfur Cycle
The Steps of the Sulfur Cycle
1. Mineralization of organic sulfur into inorganic forms, such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S), elemental sulfur, as well as sulfide minerals.
2. Oxidation of hydrogen sulfide, sulfide, and elemental sulfur (S) to sulfate (SO4
2–).3. Reduction of sulfate to sulfide.4. Incorporation of sulfide into organic
compounds (including metal-containing derivatives).