ECOSYSTEMS LEVEL 3 BIOLOGY

Where did you picture yourself? What did you see? What did you hear? What did you feel?

AN ECOSYSTEM IS… All the communities (biotic) and abiotic factors in an environment.

AN ECOSYSTEM IS… COMMUNITIES All the kinds of living things EXAMPLES Water lillies Goldfish Frogs Bacteria Cattails ABIOTIC FACTORS Conditions or resources EXAMPLES Water Sunlight Oxygen Nutrients Carbon dioxide

“THE LIVING THINGS” POPULATION = a group of organisms of the same species that live in one area

SO HOW DO THESE ORGANISMS GET ENERGY? PLANTS – PHOTOSYNTHESIZE! ANIMALS - EAT FOOD! We call plants the producers, or autotrophs and animals the consumers, or heterotrophs. We also classify animals (consumers) as carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores.

PHOTOSYNTHESIS Plants use carbon dioxide, water, and the sun to make food for themselves – animals take advantage of this and consume plants. Animals eat plants and produce carbon dioxide and water as wastes.

IT’S A CYCLE!!! RESPIRATION Animals & Plants Consumers or heterotrophs PHOTOSYNTHESIS Plants Producers or autotrophs Use carbon dioxide & water Make sugar or starch RESPIRATION Animals & Plants Consumers or heterotrophs Use sugar or starch Make carbon dioxide & water

FOOD CHAINS A food chain models the flow of energy through organisms in an ecosystem. Secondaryconsumer (Dr. Ball- Goodrich’s biology students) Primary consumer Producer

Levels Producer which is typically a ____________ Primary Consumer, also called a ___________ Secondary Consumer, also called a ________ Tertiary Consumer Quaternary Consumer

FOOD WEBS A food web demonstrates the interconnections between food chains in a community or ecosystem.

Draw a Food Web!! leafy plant, flowering plant Grasshopper eats both plants Squirrel eats flowering plant Rat eats leafy plant and grasshopper Frog eats grasshopper Bunny eats flowering plant Fox eats rat, squirrel,bunny Snake eats frog and bunny Owl eats Frog and snake

FOOD WEBS WHAT do the arrows represent? Why do the arrows point in THIS direction?

Food Web Analysis What animals are on the highest trophic level? What trophic level is it? Describe the role of decomposers in the food web; describe where the matter they break down goes. What happens to the amount of energy available as you go up the food web? Explain!

What would happen if the owls were removed from this ecosystem? A resource pulse is an increase in available food; predict what would happen if there was an increase in plant material in this ecosystem.

What about energy? Where does the energy come from? Energy moves through the food chain, from producers to consumers to decomposers BUT it is NOT recycled!!!! Why not? The “Law of Conservation of Energy” aka “The First Law of Thermodynamics”……

Energy Cannot be Created or Destroyed!!!

Energy passes through the Trophic Structure of the Ecosystem What is it? A pattern of feeding relationships consisting of different levels The sequence of food transfer up the trophic levels is known as a FOOD CHAIN Arrows in food chain point FROM the food TO the consumer Up to 5 trophic levels in a food chain: Producer; Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary Consumers

Where does the energy go? Most energy at each trophic level is used by living things (conduct metabolism, to hunt/kill/consume food, grow, reproduce) Much is lost as HEAT Not all living material is consumed (ex: bones, bark, etc.)- these parts are decomposed So how much energy IS passed on?

The Law of 10% At each trophic level, 90% of available energy is used, with most of it “lost” as heat to atmosphere. Only 10% of the energy at each level is available to the next trophic level (when they get EATEN!) So if a producer has 10,000 Calories (or kilocalories) of energy, how much energy would each level after that have?

Energy Pyramid At each higher trophic level, the amount of energy is 10% of the previous level! Which gets more energy from its prey- primary consumers? tertiary consumers?

ECOLOGICAL PYRAMID Shows each step in the transfer of energy and matter in a food chain Fill in Trophic Levels: Producer Primary consumer Secondary consumer Tertiary consumer What trophic level is each term below? Herbivore Carnivore Omnivore Scavenger Decomposer

ENERGY PYRAMID This pyramid represents the energy contained in the biomass.

Energy Can also be measured in Joules (J)

Revisit: Food Chain/Web Analysis What animals are on the highest trophic level? What trophic level is it? Describe the role of decomposers in the food web; describe where the matter they break down goes. What happens to the amount of energy available as you go up the food web? Explain!

What does this mean for higher level consumers? -There’s less energy in the food they eat! -This means there are FEWER higher level consumers and MORE producers and lower level consumers What happens to an ecosystem if all the producers are killed? (Think deforestation, forest fire, drought, etc)

AN ECOLOGICAL PYRAMID… Shows the relationships between producers and consumers at all the trophic levels in an ecosystem. Number of organisms energy biomass

BIOMASS PYRAMID This pyramid represents the amount of biomass found at each trophic level.

NUMERICAL PYRAMID This pyramid represents the relative number of organisms at each trophic level.

Matter is recycled How is matter recycled? -Matter moves through food web, from the producers to the consumers -After organism dies, decomposers break down matter to primary nutrients -Cycle starts over again when nutrients are taken up by producers

What is recycled & how is it done? Carbon (Carbon cycle?) Nitrogen (Nitrogen cycle?) Phosphorous (Phosphorous cycle?) Sulfur (Sulfur cycle?)

CYCLES! NITROGEN CYCLE CARBON CYCLE PHOSPHORUS CYCLE (no gas phase)

CARBON CYCLE

PHOSPHORUS CYCLE

Feeding relationships in an Ecosystem Predation Predator (typically a Carnivore) Prey (may exhibit camouflage) Herbivore, Scavenger, Decomposer

NON-FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS IN ECOSYSTEMS SYMBIOSIS: Mutualism – relationship where both organisms benefit Commensalism - relationship where one organism benefits and the other organism is unaffected Parasitism – relationship where one organism benefits and the other organism is harmed (sometimes this is a feeding relationship)

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Plasmodium – a protozoan that causes malaria

After “Rat Attack!” Draw a food web including the bamboo, black rat, chickens, corn, humans, rice, stink bugs, and anything else that you might notice in the film. Describe how this ecosystem changes when a “resource pulse” (ex. rapid production of bamboo fruit) occurs. Be sure to describe how this affects all of the various populations that are shown in the video.