1. Monday 3/30/2015 Due Today: Ecosystem Designs AGENDA: Ecology Unit Notes: Review of Cycles and relevance to ecosystems Activity: Cycles Mind Map Homework/Class Assignments!! Cycles Mind Map due Tuesday 3/31/2015 for 45 Points Announcements:

2. Bio geo chemical Cycles Energy does NOT get recycled through an ecosystem, but chemicals (nutrients) do! Water and minerals, such as carbon (C), nitrogen (N), calcium (Ca), and phosphorus (P), are recycled and reused by plants, animals and humans. Nutrients are recycled through living and dead animals (and humans), the atmosphere, the oceans, and rocks. ANSWER: Biogeochemical Cycles “Bio” – Life “Geo” – Earth “Chemical” – Chemical Cycle – a periodically repeated sequence of events QUESTION: How does our planet, as a whole, work to recycle its resources and provide life?

3. The 4 Main Bio geo chemical Cycles Carbon Cycle - Photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Water Cycle - Evaporation, Transpiration, Condensation, Precipitation and Collection Nitrogen Cycle - death and waste; nitrogen-fixing bacteria; reintroduced to soil for plants; plants feed animals

4. Cycles Mind Map Review Using what you know about Biogeochemical Cycles, please construct the following Mind Map Main Heading: Biogeochemical Cycles 1.Please include the definition and what each prefix means Sub Heading #1: Water Cycle 1.Please include 10 facts Sub Heading #2: Nitrogen Cycle 1.Please include 10 facts Sub Heading 3#: Carbon Cycle 1.Please include 10 facts In two paragraphs, discuss how the 3 Biogeochemical Cycles and Ecology relate to each other and answer the following questions: How does the recycling of nutrients and chemicals support life in ecosystems? What are three possible reasons organisms would not survive without nutrients from the biogeochemical cycles? What source of energy supports the functioning of the cycles and how does it relate to ecology?

5. Tuesday 4/1/2014 Due Today: Cycles Mind Map AGENDA: Notes: Energy Transfer within ecosystems Activity: Interpreting food webs Homework/Class Assignments!! Interpreting a food web worksheet due Wednesday/Thursday for 20 Points Announcements:

6. Energy Transfer All organisms need energy to carry out essential functions, such as growth, movement, maintenance & repair, reproduction and thinking. The amount of energy an ecosystem receives & the amount that is transferred from organism to organism has an important effect on the ecosystem’s structure.

7. Energy Transfer Vocabulary Producer – Autotrophic organisms (make their own food) Consumer – Heterotrophic organisms (have to eat other organisms to obtain energy) Decomposer – break down dead plants, animals, and waste. Trophic Level – refers to the organism’s position in the food chain. Food Chain – starts with producers and moves up through various levels of consumers. Food Web – several interrelating food chains.

8. Vocabulary Continued Inorganic nutrients – LACKcarbon-carbon bonds, it’s what is leftover after decomposition. Example: Phosphorus – from teeth, bones, and cell membranes Nitrogen – from amino acids (form proteins) Iron – from blood Invasive/introduced species – an organism that is not originally from the environment it’s currently living in. Herbivore – an organism that gets its energy by consuming plants. Carnivore – an organism that gets its energy consuming meat. Omnivore – an organism that gets its energy by consuming both plants and meat.

9. Wednesday/Thursday 4/1- 4/2/2015 Agenda: Ecology Unit Notes: Energy flow in Ecosystems Activity: Food web reading assignment Homework/Class Assignments!! Announcements:

10. Energy Flow Whenever one organism consumes another, molecules are metabolized and energy is transferred. Typically, energy flows through the ecosystem from producers to consumers to decomposers. But…not everything gets consumed.

11. Producers Primary Consumers Secondary Consumers Tertiary Consumers Ecological Pyramid of Trophic Levels Decomposers Energy

12. Key Things to Remember about Energy Flow The ultimate source of energy (in most ecosystems) is the SUN. The ultimate fate of energy in the ecosystem is lost as HEAT. ENERGY and NUTRIENTS are passed from organism to organism through the food chain as one organism consumes another. Energy is never recycled, but lost as heat. DECOMPOSERS remove the last energy from the remains of organisms. INORGANIC NUTRIENTS are recycled.

13. Trophic Levels…where does the energy go?

14. Food Chain

15. Food Web