1. Chapter 3 The Biosphere Review of sections 1, 2, & 3

2. What is Ecology?
Scientific study of the interactions among organisms and between the organisms and their environment.

3. Levels of organization
1. Species
2. Population
3. Community
4. Ecosystem
5. Biome
6. Biosphere

4. 3-2 Energy Flow
Sunlight is the main source of energy for all life on earth.

5. Producers must capture the suns light energy
Organisms called autotrophs use energy from the environment to fuel the assembly of complex organic molecules.

6. How does it work?
The best known autotrophs are those that harness solar energy through a process called Photosynthesis.

7. What about where there is no light?
Chemoautotrophs use chemical energy to produce carbohydrates. This process is called chemosynthesis. These bacteria live in crazy harsh places… Deep oceans, hot springs… etc.

8. Consumers
Organisms that rely on other organisms for their energy and food supply are called heterotrophs.

9. There are many different kinds of Heterotrophs…
Like Herbivores

10. Carnivores

12. Omnivores

13. Detritivores

14. Decomposers
When a plant, animal, or insect dies, that plant, animal, or insect is broken into tiny pieces and those pieces become part of the soil.  This is called decomposition. 

15. Food Chains and Food Webs
Energy stored by producers can be passed through an ecosystem along a food chain.

16. Food web

17. Ecological pyramids energy, biomass, and numbers

18. In most organisms, more than 95% of the body is made up of just 4 elements: Oxygen, Carbon, Hydrogen, and Nitrogen.
Unlike the one way flow of energy, matter is recycled through biogeochemical cycles.
The 4 main cycles are:
The Water cycle
The Carbon cycle
The Nitrogen cycle
The Phosphorus cycle