Ecology

Ecosystems Species do not live alone! Community – group of various organisms that live in the same place and interact. Ecosystems – the group of interacting organisms in the same place along with all of the living and non-living factors. (community and non-living factors)

Ecosystem vs. Community

Community of Organisms Abiotic – non- living Water Wind Rocks Air Biotic – living Animals Plants Fungi

Physical factors Habitat - where an organism lives. What’s yours What about a fish Can they be different

Biodiversity The variety of organisms in a community. The more types of organisms the higher the biodiversity. Which has more rainforest or dessert?

Major Biological Communities Climate – define in your own words!!! Biome – define in your own words!!! Two key factors of climate that determine biomes are temperature and precipitation.

Climate and Biome are completely linked!

Energy Flow In Systems

Consumer/Heterotroph Producer/autotroph Consumer/Heterotroph

Food Chains Herbivore – eats plants Carnivore – eats meats Omnivore – eats plants and meats Food web vs. food chain Chains flows in 1 direction Web flows in many directions A web is made of many chains

Trophic (energy) Levels Producer – photosynthetic/autotrophic organisms Consumer – eat other organisms Decomposers – break down the remains of animals In an ecosystem energy flows from the sun to producers to consumers to decomposers Each step in the transfer of energy through an ecosystem is called a trophic level.

Loss of energy Energy is stored at each link in a food web. But some energy that is used dissipates as heat into the environment and is not recycled. Only about 10% of the energy makes it to the next trophic level. 90% of it is lost as heat.

Interactions in communities Predator vs. Prey

Shaping Communities Niche – unique position occupied by a species both physically and trophically. Fundamental vs. realized niche

Define in your own words! Keystone species

Which of the following in the diagram below is a keystone species?

Competitive exclusion – when a species is excluded (left out) of a niche or excluded from certain resources due to competition from another species.

Other interactions Symbiosis is a relationship in which two species live in close association with each other. Define : mutualism Commensalism

Complete a doodle def for the following terms: Parasitism

Population Regulation

Community of Organisms Abiotic – non- living Water Wind Rocks Air Biotic – living Animals Plants Fungi

Populations A group of organisms of the same species that live together in one place . Understanding population growth is important because populations of different species interact and affect one another, including human populations.

Population Growth Immigration – movement into a population Emigration- movement out of a population

Exponential growth – populations increase by a certain factor Logistic growth – (define these terms in your own….WORDS!!) Density dependent Density independent Carrying capacity

Density dependent – depends on the amount of the population (Ex: food, water, shelter) Density independent – independent of the amount of the population (Ex: natural disaster and disease) Carrying capacity – maximum population/capacity an area can support/carry (ex: elevator has a carrying capacity)

Succession

Succession The replacement of one community by another at a single place over a period of time. Volcano example: Pioneer species – first one there An ecosystem responds to change in such a way that the ecosystem is restored to equilibrium.

Cycles

Water Cycle Water cycle continuously moves water between the atmosphere, the land and the oceans. Percolates condensation Precipitation evaporation Transpiration Assign a number to each in the order they occur

Carbon and Oxygen cycles Animals, plants and other photosynthesizing organisms play an important role in cycling carbon and oxygen through an ecosystem. Carbon cycle Respiration Discuss cycle on pg 91

Carbon Cycle Plants use CO2 to build organic molecules (glucose/carbohydrates). Oxygen is released during this process. Animals and other organisms use this oxygen to break down organic molecules they ingested and release energy and CO2. The process of exchanging oxygen and CO2 between organisms and their surroundings is respiration.

Combustion Carbon is also released through combustion. Combustion is the process of burning a substance. All living things contain carbon (organic) thus when you burn a living thing you release carbon into the atmosphere. Trees Fossil fuels (oil and coal)

Phosphorus Cycle Phosphorus is an important part of ATP and DNA and must be cycled in order for an ecosystem to support life. This is the movement of phosphorus in different chemical forms from surroundings to organisms then back to surroundings.

Look up and define and explain: Elemental nitrogen Nitrogen fixation Denitrification How are these related???

Water cycle song Bill Nye water cycle Bill Nye carbon cycle

Environmental Maintenance

Ozone: a colorless unstable toxic gas with a pungent odor and powerful oxidizing properties, formed from oxygen by electrical discharges or ultraviolet light. It differs from normal oxygen (O2) in having three atoms in its molecule (O3) Atmosphere: the envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet.

Greenhouse Effect A phenomenon in which the atmosphere of a planet traps radiation emitted by its sun, caused by gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through but retain heat radiated back from the planet's surface.

A carbon sink is a natural or artificial reservoir that accumulates and stores some carbon- containing chemical compound for an indefinite period. The process by which carbon sinksremove carbon dioxide (CO2) from theatmosphere is known as carbon sequestration

geosphere geosphere: any of the almost spherical concentric regions of matter that make up the earth and its atmosphere, as the lithosphere and hydrosphere.

Soil erosion is a naturally occurring process that affects all landforms. In agriculture, soil erosion refers to the wearing away of a field's topsoil by the natural physical forces of water (Figure 1) and wind (Figure 2) or through forces associated with farming activities such as tillage.

Deposition is the geological process in which sediments, soil and rocks are added to a landform or land mass. Wind, ice, and water, as well as sediment flowing via gravity, transport previously eroded sediment, which, at the loss of enough kinetic energy in the fluid, is deposited, building up layers of sediment

Human Impact

Renewable resource – natural resources that can be replaced at the same rate at which they are consumed. Ex: CO2 and O2 Nonrenewable resource – resources that form at a rate that is much slower than the rate at which they are consumed Ex: fossil fuels