ORGANIZATION OF LIFE Ch 4 Everything is connected
Feb 22, 2016
ORGANIZATION OF LIFECh 4
Everything is connected
What Is Ecology?• Ecology is a study of how organisms
interact with one another and with their physical environment of matter and energy.
What is an ecosystem?
What do all ecosystems have in common?
Look at the 3 ecosystems and list the parts of each.
Now determine what they all have in common.
TROPICAL RAIN FOREST
DESERT
TUNDRA
What Keeps Us and Other Organisms Alive?
Life is sustained by the flow of energy from the sun through the biosphere, the cycling of nutrients within the biosphere, and gravity.
Earth Has Four Major Life-Support Components
• Atmosphere
• Hydrosphere
• Geosphere
• Biosphere
Three Factors Sustain Life on Earth
• One-way flow of high-quality energy from the sun
• Cycling of matter or nutrients through parts of the biosphere
• Gravity
Solar Energy Reaching the Earth• Electromagnetic waves– Visible light– UV radiation– Heat
• Natural greenhouse effect
• Energy in = energy out
• Human-enhanced global warming
Fig. 3-7, p. 44
Solarradiation
Radiated byatmosphereas heat
Reflected byatmosphere
Mostabsorbedby ozone
Absorbedby the earth
Greenhouseeffect
Visiblelight
UV radiation
Heat radiatedby the earthHeat
Troposphere
Lower Stratosphere(ozone layer)
Energy in = Energy out
What Are the Major Components of an Ecosystem?
• Energy, mineral nutrients, carbon dioxide, water, oxygen, living organisms
• Some organisms produce the nutrients they need, others get the nutrients they need by consuming other organisms, and some recycle nutrients back to producers by decomposing the wastes and remains of organisms.
Fig. 3-8, p. 45
Soluble mineralnutrients
Producers
Decomposers
Secondaryconsumer(fox)
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Primaryconsumer(rabbit)
Producer
Oxygen (O2)Precipitation
Water
Living and Nonliving Components
• Abiotic – Water– Air– Nutrients– Solar energy
• Biotic– Plants– Animals– Microbes– Once living parts, waste
What are Abiotic components? What are Biotic components? What is the fundamental energy source? How does this energy source vary at different locations around Earth? Where are Plants in the flow of energy and materials? Why are plants called the Producers, or for more emphasis, the Primary Producers? What is meant by Consumers? What are Herbivores? What are Carnivores? What are the sources of Energy and Materials for the preceding? Where do Humans fit in? What are the implications for energy and space efficiencies? What are Decomposers; what is their "role"? Why can they be called Recyclers?
Organization of Matter in Nature
Smallest unit of a chemical element that exhibits its chemical properties
Atom
Molecule Chemical combination of two or more atoms of the same or different elements
CellThe fundamental structural and functional unit of life
OrganismAn individual living being
Population A group of individuals of the same species living in a particular place
Fig. 3-3, p. 41
CommunityPopulations of different species living in a particular place, and potentially interacting with each other
Stepped Art
Ecosystem A community of different species interacting with one another and with their nonliving environment of matter and energy
Biosphere Parts of the earth's air,water, and soil where life is found
What is habitat?
What is habitat?
IS SOIL ALIVE?
Fig. 3-A, p. 49
MillipedeOak tree
Fern
Wood sorrel
O horizonLeaf litterA horizon
Topsoil
B horizonSubsoil
C horizonParent
material
Root system
Mature soil Bacteria
Nematode
Fungus
Young soil
Mite
Immature soilBedrock
Rockfragments
Red earthmite
Mossand lichen
Organic debrisbuilds up
Grasses andsmall shrubsMole
Earthworm
Honeyfungus
Habitat destruction