1. Unit 1: Ecosystems

2. fact
Ecosystems
Physics

3. GQs:
How do producers, consumers, and decomposers work together in an ecosystem? How does energy flow through an ecosystem? What factors play a role in the cycling of molecules necessary for life?

4. Today’s Topic Coverage
In Class
Out of Class
Ecosystem
Biotic and Abiotic
Producers, Consumers, Decomposers
Ecosystem Energy Flow
Niche
5 Lvls of Ecology
Populations
Earth’s Life Support Systems
Soils
Cycles of Matter (ordered by importance)
Water Cycle
Carbon Cycle
Nitrogen Cycle
Phosphorus Cycle
Sulfur Cycle
Human Effects on Ecosystems

5. Ecosystem
Definition: Communities of different species that interact with each other and with local abiotic factors, allowing the overall system to respond to environmental changes.

6. Ecosystems can be complex..

7. Ecosystem Components:
Biotic – “living” factors such as all the living organisms within that environment.
Ex: Plants, animals, bacteria, etc.
Abiotic – “nonliving” factors such as physical or chemical conditions in the environment.
Ex: water temperature, pH, soil composition, dead biotic elements, etc.

8. Types of Biotic energy makers
And now….
Types of Biotic energy makers

9. Producers
Acquire and process energy from the environment to make food for itself.
Ex:
Photosynthesis
Chemosynthesis

10. Consumers Acquire and process fresh food . Ex: Hunters Scavengers
Gatherers

11. Decomposers Acquire and process dead food. Ex: Fungi some Bacteria
some Invertibrates

12. Grow and Reproduce Goals Producers Consumers Decomposers
convert energy to food may eat one or more of P, C, D use parts of dead organisms
Grow and Reproduce

13. 1. If _____ were eliminated, an ecosystem could no longer function.
Humans
Producers
Decomposers
Consumers

14. Energy flow in an Ecosystem

15. How/Why is energy lost to the environment?
Have you ever sat in a chair warm because someone else was sitting in it?
That person warmed up the chair. Making the chair warmer took energy!

16. How are the cows losing energy?

18. Earth’s Material Cycles
Hydrologic
Carbon
Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Sulfur

19. Material Cycle Details
YOUR JOB TO STUDY AND PRACTICE THIS.
KNOW:
The process & reason each material travels: UP
DOWN
ACROSS the Earth

20. Driving Forces of the Cycles
Life: organisms move things during their lives
Gravity pulls elements toward Earth
Sunlight heats gases to make them move away from Earth G

21. 2. Elements cycle through the atmosphere in all of the following biogeochemical cycles EXCEPT which?
Carbon
Phosphorus
Water
Oxygen
Nitrogen

22. 3. Dark-brown or black topsoil is rich with:
Carbon (C)
Nitrogen (N)
Water ( H 2 O)
Sulfur (S)

23. 4. Which of the following is a soil associated with tropical rain forests?
Alkaline, dark, and rich humus
Acidic light colored humus
Humus-mineral mixture
Acid litter and dark humus

24. 5. 90% of energy captured by a trophic level is not used by the next trophic level because:
It is converted to biological waste.
It skips over to the following trophic level.
It is converted to thermal energy, shed as heat.

25. All life has its happy place.
A species’ “happy place” is called its niche
What factors do you think play a role in your happy place?
Let’s think about niches…

26. Niches in a Wall (Examples)

27. Niche (APES)
Definition: consists of all the physical, chemical, and biological conditions that a particular species needs to live and reproduce in an ecosystem.

28. Guiding Question: What is their role in ecosystems?
+ / - Feedback loops

29. (+) Feedback Definition
Impulse 1 leads to the growth of Impulse 2, Impulse 2 leads to the growth of Impulse 1.
Impulse 1
Impulse 2

30. (+) Example 1: Yelling Cooperation
A child yells to get what they want, leads to increased cooperation from adults.
Increased cooperation leads to them increasing how much they yell.
+ Loop Summary: the more the child yells, the more likely the adult will cooperate. The more the adult cooperates, the more the child yells.
Yelling
Cooperation

31. (+) Example 2: Warming Melting
High interest gains for your $, leads to more $ in the bank.
More $ in the bank leads to higher interest payments.
+ Loop Summary: the higher your interest gains, the more $ you get, leading to the interest gains being larger.
Warming
Melting

32. (+) Example 3 + :
6 min: come up with as many examples as you can. 5 min: share the strongest example w/ your table.

33. (-) Feedback Definition
Impulse 1 leads to growth in Impulse 2, Impulse 2 leads to a reduction in Impulse 1.
Impulse 1
Impulse 2