Transcript The Sierra Nevada: Fresno`s Backyard Part III – Flora and

Energy Flow through
Ecosystems
by d. jones
Habitat= the type of place where
an organism lives
• determined by plant communities
– community = all of the populations in the same
habitat
– abiotic factors
•
•
•
•
soil
water
elevation
climate
Classification of Organisms by
Feeding Modes
• Producers
– trap energy from the sun
• sun is the ultimate source of energy for earth
• use photosynthesis to make their own food
– combine water and carbon dioxide to form carbohydrates
– requires chlorophyll (they are green)
• consumers
– get food from producers
– primary consumers feed directly on producers
– secondary consumers feed on primary
consumers
– there can be tertiary and quaternary consumers
• decomposers
– bacteria and fungi
– obtain their energy from organisms that have
died or from animal wastes
– occasionally obtain energy from organisms that
are still living
• athletes foot
– recycle nutrients and other molecules
Energy Flow
SUNLIGHT producer primary consumer
 secondary consumer  decomposer
Steps in the series are called trophic
levels.
Trophic Levels
Energy Loss
• energy is lost at each level
– most of the energy is lost as heat
– motion
– metabolism
• there is more energy available at the lower
trophic levels
– therefore there is more mass of organisms
We can view this as a pyramid.
Central Valley
•grasses
–produce seeds
•valley oak
–produce acorns
• Insects
grasshoppers: grasses
crickets:grasses
Arachnids
spiders: insects
• Mammals
ground squirrel: seeds,
fruit
– Small
• Rodents
jackrabbits: grass
gopher: plant roots
mice: seeds ,grasses
• Large Mammals
Coyote: birds, small
mammals, frogs,
snakes, berries
BIRDS
• Seed eaters
• Meat eaters
Valley Quail
–kestrel:
–insects
–red tailed hawk: rabbits,
ground squirrels
• reptiles
western fence
lizard: insects
gopher snakes:
rodents
Make a pyramid and place all of
the organisms mentioned in the
previous 3 slides at the correct
level.
coyote
Western Fence Lizard,
gopher snake, Kestrel,
coyote,Red tail
Hawk,spiders
Quail, rodents, jackrabbit,
grasshoppers, crickets
grasses
valley oak
A Food Chain
series of organisms though which food energy passes
Make a food chain for the coyote.
•First - place organisms from the lowest trophic level at the
bottom and work your way up the levels as you go up the
page.
•Second – draw arrows pointing to the organism that is doing
the eating.
coyote
ground squirrel
grass seeds
Food Web
• feeding diagram
which shows
relationship between
many food chains
Make a food web.
• first place the producers in a row at the bottom of
the page
• second place the consumers in rows similar to where
they are found in the energy pyramid
• third draw arrows ( arrows point to the
organism that is eating)
red tail hawk
kestrel
grasshoppers
coyote
crickets
gopher snakes
rabbits
grasses
ground squirrels
quail
More terms that describe feeding
relationships.
• predator
– hunts for and kills its food
• example coyote eating rodents
– coyote is the predator
• prey
– animal eaten by a predator
• example the rodent is the prey of the coyote in the
example above
• herbivore
– eats plants only
• carnivore
– eats meat
• omnivore
– eats meat and plants
• insectivore
– eats insects
• scavenger
– consumes garbage
– or carrion
• organisms that were killed by something else
Foothill Oak Woodland
• trees
• Blue Oak
• interior live oak
– reproductive part = acorn
• digger pine
– pine nuts for reproduction
– conifers
• evergreen
• needles
• seeds in cones
• shrubs
– buckeye
– poison oak
• mistletoe
– symbiosis=close relationship between two
species
– parasitism = one benefits, the other is harmed
• lichens
– symbiotic relationship
– mutualism
• both organisms benefit
• mosses
• fungi
– mushrooms
– bracken fungus
• birds
– scrub jay:acorns
– acorn woodpecker: acorns
– turkey vulture: carrion
• mammals
– mule deer:grasses
– gray squirrels:acorns, pine nuts
– gray fox: rodents
– Bats: insects
• nocturnal
– Rodents(gnawing mammals):grasses & fruits
• insects
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–
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California sister butterfly: larva eat oak leaves
oak moth larvae: oak leaves
Mosquito:mammal blood
gall wasp:larvae live in oak
– termites:dead wood
Classify each of the organisms of the Foothill
Oak Woodland using the correct terms:
producer
predator
prey
scavenger
decomposer
herbivore
carnivore
omnivore
insectivore