Ecology Notes – Part 1: Energy Flow Biology Spring 2012 Biology Spring 2012

What is ecology??? Ecology: the study of the interactions that take place between organisms and their environment

Living vs. Non-Living Biotic Factors: all living things in an environment Ex: Plants, Animals, Bacteria Abiotic Factors: all non-living things in an environment Ex: Rocks, Sun, Water, Air

Ecosystem Interaction between abiotic and biotic factors in an environment create an ecosystem Ex: Forest, Desert, Mountains, Ocean

Levels of Organization Things in nature are built from smaller things… For example, we know that proteins are made of ____________ And polymers are made of ________ Arrange the terms from smallest (is needed to make the next level) to largest (needs all smaller parts to be built)

Atoms Molecules Organelles Cells Organs Organism/Individual Populations Communities Ecosystems Biosphere

Levels of Organization See the Levels of Organization PPT for additional notes Make sure to get the definitions for population and community!!!

Ecosystem Energy Flow Two types of organisms Those that can make their energy And those that can’t Some prefixes & suffixes Auto- = self Hetero- = -troph = nourish

Ecosystem Energy Flow Two types of organisms 1. Autotrophs: produce their own energy (Producers) Ex: plants, algae & some bacteria, Amanda

Ecosystem Energy Flow Two types of organisms 2. Heterotrophs: depend on others for energy (Consumers) Ex: animals & fungi

Ecosystem Energy Flow Types of Heterotrophs: Herbivore: consume only plants Ex: cows, rabbits Carnivore: consume only animals Ex: Lions Omnivore: eat both plants and animals Ex: humans

Ecosystem Energy Flow More Types of Heterotrophs: Decomposer: absorb decaying or dead materials Ex: mushrooms, bacteria, worms Scavenger: eats anything Ex: sea gulls

Ecosystem Energy Flow Energy enters an ecosystem as sunlight, autotrophs convert sunlight to food molecules using photosynthesis Heterotrophs consume

The Four Basic Needs? Water Food Living Space = habitat Stable Internal Conditions = homeostasis

Having a niche Definition: the role of an organism in its environment; “how it makes a living” A niche is a key concept in ecology: How it gets food Habitat conditions for survival Is it used for food? All its biotic and abiotic resources

Ecosystem Energy Flow Food Chain: one series of feeding relationships grass grasshopper mouse hawk Food web: all feeding relationships in an ecosystem

Food Web Example

Food Webs... Are a model that we use to represent the feeding relationships in an ecosystem. They mostly show the path of materials through the different feeding relationships. Arrows  show the direction of energy flow… sooo if I’m being pointed to, I get the energy from whatever I ate

Food Web What feeding relationships do you see?

Food Web and Food Chain As a class, help to create a food web How many different food chains can you see in the food web that was created?

Food Web and Food Chain Create your own food web using: (arrows always point toward what is getting energy) grass, eagle, salmon, bear, berries, wheat, rabbit, algae, herring, fox, mouse Label the type of organism Indicate one food chain based on your food web

Ecosystem Energy Flow Energy Pyramid: diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web Trophic Levels: a feeding step of a food web, consists of species that obtain energy in a similar manner Only 10% of energy gets transferred to the next level

Energy Pyramid Only 10% of the energy gets from one level to the next… The rest is released to the environment in the form of _________

27 Food Chains Show Available Energy

28

Energy Pyramid

Use your food web to create an energy pyramid label each trophic level