ECOLOGY & HUMAN IMPACT GENERAL SCIENCE 8

What is ECOLOGY?  The study of how living things interact with their environment Click on here to view movie

Key Definitions Key Definitions  Organism  Any living thing  Population  All the members of a species that living together in an area and can reproduce  Community  All the different populations that live in the same area  Habitat  The place where an organism lives and that provides the things the organism needs  Ecosystem  All the living and nonliving things that interact in an area  Niche  An organisms role in their environment  Abiotic  Non-living things in an ecosystem  Examples: water, oxygen, rocks  Biotic  Living things in an ecosystem  Examples: plants, animals

Key Definitions  Predator  An organism that lives by killing and eating other organisms (prey)  Prey  An organism hunted for food by a predator  Symbiotic Relationship  Ecological relationship between 2 or more different species  Both benefit – Mutalism  One benefits, other is unharmed – Commensalism  One benefits, other is harmed - Parasitism  Carrying Capacity  The number of organisms a given habitat can support  Limited by available food, water, shelter, oxygen, minerals  Limiting Factors  Conditions that determine the numbers and kinds of organisms that can inhabit an ecosystem  Can reduce population growth  Examples: food, water, shelter, oxygen, minerals

PHOTOSYNTHESIS Equation: CO 2 + H 2 O  Oxygen + Glucose + water vapor

FOOD CHAIN TERMS  Producer  An organism that makes its own food  Example: algae, grass  Consumer  Any organism that needs to obtain its food from other sources  Example: animal, human

FOOD CHAIN TERMS cont.  Herbivore  Any organism that eats only plants  Example: rabbit  Carnivore  Any organism that eats only meat  Example: wolf, bear  Omnivore  Any organism that eats both plants and animals  Example: human  Decomposer  Any organism that breaks down the remains of dead plant and animal matter  Example: fungi, bacteria

How to build a food chain Producer  primary  secondary  tertiary consumer consumer consumer consumer consumer consumer  Finally end with a decomposer  Food chains show a feeding relationship  Example: Sun  grass  mouse  snake  owl  bacteria

BUILD A FOOD CHAIN  Using the following organism, create a food chain in your packet  Mousepandabacteriabat  Humansnailbirddog  Mosquitoalligatorgrasshunter  Fishrabbitbeartree  SeaweedDeermushroom hawk  Cheetahwolfgrasshopper snake SUN..______  _______  _______  ________  ______

MAKE A FOOD WEB : many food chains that interconnect  Using ALL the organisms, create a food web in your packet  Mousepandabacteriabat  Humansnailbirddog  Mosquitoalligatorgrasshunter  Fishrabbitbeartree  SeaweedDeermushroom hawk  Cheetahwolfgrasshopper snake

ENERGY PYRAMIDS  Energy Flow  Energy flows from:  producers  consumers  Less energy is available to the highest level of consumers in a food chain because organisms need to use the energy for life functions

Carbon/Oxygen Cycle Animals take in O 2 Plants take in CO 2 Animals release CO 2 Plant release O 2

Ecological Succession  One species replaces another  Causes:  Forest fires  Volcano eruptions  Deforestation  Flooding/tsunamis  earthquakes

Ecological Succession – cont. Forest succession Mosses  grasses  small shrubs/bushes  Forest of trees Pond Succession  Water  sediment  swamp  forest

Human Impact: Pollution Air pollution Human Impacts Click on here to view movie

GLOBAL WARMING  CAUSE  Too much carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the atmosphere  Car emissions  Factories  EFFECT  Increase in Earth’s temperature  Melting of polar ice caps  Flooding/rise in sea level  Rise in heat related diseases and deaths  PREVENTION  Use alternative energy sources  Do not pollute the air by burning fossil fuels  Car pool, ride your bike, walk

OZONE DEPLETION  CAUSE  CFC’s - aerosol cans  Air conditioners  Refrigerants  Hair spray, paint cans  EFFECT  Holes in the ozone layer  Rise in skin cancers  PREVENTION  Banned CFC’s in aerosol products

ACID RAIN  CAUSE  Nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide react with water droplets to form sulfuric and nitric acids  EFFECT  Effects soil, water, forests in areas far away from the factories the pollution it is caused by  Acidity of water can decrease (become more acidic)  Ecosystems become disrupted, fish and other wildlife can die  Buildings/grave stones can become weathered  PREVENTION  Use alternative energy sources  Stop burning fossil fuels  Place laws on factory emissions

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES  Oil is a nonrenewable, limited resource  Fossils fuels pollute the environment  There are only years of oil left Click on here to view movie

What are the alternative energy forms?  Wind  Solar  Nuclear  Geothermal  Hydroelectric  Tidal

WIND ENERGY  Converting wind energy into electricity  Most common machine = a windmill Positive – no pollutionPositive – no pollution Negative – wind is not strong everywhereNegative – wind is not strong everywhere Click on here to view movie

SOLAR ENERGY  Collecting the sun’s radiation energy and converting it to electricity  Positive – no pollution, greenhouse gases  Negative – Sun is not always out Click on here to view movie

NUCLEAR ENERGY  Converting the energy in the nucleus of atoms to electricity  Positive – no pollution or greenhouse gases  Negative – radioactive wastes and terrorism Click on here to view movie

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY  Converting heat from the earth into electricity and power  Positive – No pollution or greenhouse gases  Negative – hot magma sources are not found in all areas Click on here to view movie

HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY  Converting tidal energy into power  Positive – no pollution or greenhouse gases  Negative – large water sources are not available all over the U.S., creating dams can kill wildlife Click on here to view movie

TIDAL ENERGY  Converting tidal energy into power  Positive – no pollution or greenhouse gases  Negative – tides are only located near ocean fronts Click on here to view movie

How do we get electricity from these alternative sources? How do we get electricity from these alternative sources? Moving Water, Steam, Wind, Water to boil Turns the turbine Turns the magnets ELECTRICITY!!

ENERGY CONSERVATION  WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR THE ENVIRONMENT??? Click on here to view movie