Transcript The Biosphere - LunsfordIntegratedScience

The Biosphere/
Ecology Notes
What is Ecology?
Scientific
study of interactions among
organisms and between organisms and
their environment
Biosphere
 Combined
portions of the planet in which all of
life exists, including land, water and air or
atmosphere
Extends from 8 kilometers above Earth’s
surface to 11 kilometers below the surface of
the ocean
Interactions and Interdependence
 Interactions
within the biosphere produce a
web of interdependence between organisms
and the environment in which they live
Levels of Organization
 Individual:
interactions between an organism and
its surroundings
 cottontail rabbit
 Population: groups of individuals that belong to
the same species and live in the same area
group of cottontail rabbits
Levels of Organization
 Communities:
different populations that live
together in a defined area
 rabbits, coyotes, ravens, lizard
 Ecosystem: collection of all the organisms that
live in a particular place, together with their
nonliving, or physical, environment
 rabbits, coyotes, ravens, lizard, rocks, dirt,
climate, water
Levels of Organization
 Biome:
group of ecosystems that have the same
climate and dominant communities
 desert, tundra, tropical rain forest
 Biosphere: planet Earth
Ecological Methods
 Three
approaches to ecological research:
 Observing: Use of 5 senses to ask ecological
questions
 Experimenting: Used to test hypotheses
 artificial environment in a lab
 within natural ecosystems
Ecological Methods
Modeling:
Used to gain insight into complex
phenomena such as the effects of global
warming
may include mathematical formulas based on
data collected through observation and
experimentation
 predictions tested by further observations and
experiments

Biotic and Abiotic Factors
 Click
on link to see video clip
Biotic Factors
‘Bio’- Means ‘life’
 Definition - organisms
that make up the living
portion of an ecosystem
 Also considered the
ORGANIC component of
the ecosystem
 Ex. Trees, shrubs, insects,
animals, algae, fungi, etc

Abiotic Factors
‘Abio’ – Means ‘not life’
 Definition – the nonliving
features of an environment
 Considered the
INORGANIC component
of the ecosystem
 Ex. Air, temperature,
moisture, light, rocks, and
soil

Energy Flow
 Energy
flows from the sun or inorganic
compounds to producers.
 Consumers eat producers to get energy.
 The primary source of energy on Earth is the sun!!
Every Organism Has a Home Address
Habitat
Definition – physical
location in which an
organism lives
 In other words the home
address of a species
 Ex. Fern habitat – moist,
shady forest floor.

Habitat




Many animals can share a
habitat
A single tree maybe the habitat
for several species of birds,
squirrels, etc.
However, each species uses the
habitat in a different way.
They all find their niche

Coral reef biodiversity.
Niche
Definition – the way a
species uses the resources
of its habitat and what it
does in the community
 Includes: food, living
space, methods of
obtaining food, etc.
 NO TWO SPECIES
CAN OCCUPY THE
SAME NICHE

Producers
– “self feed”
 Use sunlight to create carbohydrates via
photosynthesis
 Ex – Plants, algae and some bacteria
 Some bacteria create organic compounds from
inorganic chemicals – Chemosynthesis
 Autotrophs
 Live
in remote places.
PRODUCERS
 Producers
make their own food!
 They are also called autotrophs
 Level 1 on the Trophic Level
 Plants and bacteria make up this group.
 They make their food from the sun called
photosynthesis
Producers
CONSUMERS
•
•
•
Consumers are living things that cannot make food
for themselves. (Also called heterotrophs)
They survive by taking in food that has been made by
other living things.
A food chain contains several kinds of consumers.
Heterotroph – “Different food”
 Must eat to obtain energy.
 Ex – animals, fungi, some protists

•
YOUR MOM’S A HETEROTROPH!!!
Types of Heterotrophs
– eats plants
 Carnivore – eats animals
 Omnivore – eats plants and animals
 Detritivore – eats detritus (plant and animal
remains)
 Herbivore
 Ex-
snails, crabs, earthworms
 Decomposer
 Ex
– breaks down organic matter
– bacteria and fungi
Carnivore
Decomposers
Omnivore
Detritivore
Feeding Relationships
flows through an ecosystem in one
direction,
 from the sun or inorganic compounds 
autotrophs (producers)  various heterotrophs
(consumers).
 Energy
Energy flows…
 Flows
in one direction
 Will never return to the same
form in the ecosystem
 Conservation of Energy:
 Energy
changes form
 But is never lost
What happens to all the energy?
 When
an organism eats another organism, energy
is either:
 stored
in the tissues of the organism doing the eating,
 used by the organism, or
 released as heat.
Food Chain
A
series of steps in which organisms transfer
energy by eating and being eaten.
i.e. Wheat  mouse  snake  hawk
Food Web
 Network
of complex interactions formed by
the feeding relationship among the various
organisms in an ecosystem.
Ecological Pyramid
A
diagram that shows the relative amounts of
energy or matter contained within each
trophic level in a food chain or food web.
 Energy, biomass, and population numbers
can all be represented by a pyramid.
Ecological Pyramid
Only about 10% of the energy from one
trophic level is stored in the next.
Matter is recycled in
ecosystems.
Matter cycles…
Matter can be recycled
 Matter can be reformed
 The basic building
blocks are reused
 Conservation of Matter


The Law of Conservation of
Matter states that matter
cannot be created or
destroyed only transformed
from one form to another.
The four most abundant elements in living
things are…
H
Hydrogen
O
Oxygen
N
Nitrogen
C
Carbon
Cycles of Matter
 Recycling
in the Biosphere
 Matter is recycled within and between
ecosystems.
 Matter moves through an ecosystem in
biogeochemical cycles.
Water Cycle
Carbon
Cycle
How carbon is cycled through organisms…

Photosynthesis vs. Respiration
Photosynthesis is the process by which producers convert
radiant energy from the sun into chemical energy in the
form of glucose (food).
 Cellular respiration is done by both producers and
consumers. It uses oxygen to break down glucose into
carbon dioxide and water, releasing energy in the process.

Nitrogen Cycle
N2 in Atmosphere
NH3
NO3and NO2-
Nitrogen Cycle
 78%
of Earth’s atmosphere is Nitrogen gas = N2
Nitrogen containing products:
Ammonia (NH3)
Nitrate ions (NO3-)
Nitrite ions (NO2-)
Nitrogen is needed for protein and nucleic acid
synthesis
Nitrogen Cycle
 Converting
nitrogen gas into ammonia is called
nitrogen fixation.
Only certain types of bacteria can do this.
Plants use the converted products (NH3, NO3- ,&
NO2-) to make plant proteins.
 Some bacteria convert nitrates into nitrogen gas
(denitrification).
Phosphorus Cycle
Phosphorus Cycle
 Phosphorus
is important for the formation of
DNA and RNA molecules.
 Phosphorus is not very common and does not
enter the atmosphere, instead it is found mostly
on land in rock and soil.
Primary Productivity
 The
rate at which producers create organic matter.
 Determines the size of the community.
 Limited by availability of nutrients.
– phosphorus (P), nitrogen (N), potassium (K)
 Marine – nitrogen
 Fresh water - phosphorus
 Land
Algal Bloom
Algal Bloom Details

An algal bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the
population of algae (typically microscopic) in an aquatic system.
Algal blooms may occur in freshwater as well as marine
environments. Typically, only one or a small number of
phytoplankton species are involved, and some blooms may be
recognized by discoloration of the water resulting from the high
density of pigmented cells. Although there is no officially
recognized threshold level, algae can be considered to be blooming
at concentrations of hundreds to thousands of cells per milliliter,
depending on the severity.

A harmful algal bloom (HAB) is an algal bloom that causes
negative impacts to other organisms via production of natural
toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means.
HABs are often associated with large-scale marine mortality events
HAB Dangers




the production of neurotoxins which cause mass
mortalities in fish, seabirds, sea turtles, and marine
mammals
human illness or death via consumption of seafood
contaminated by toxic algae
mechanical damage to other organisms, such as
disruption of epithelial gill tissues in fish, resulting in
asphyxiation
oxygen depletion of the water column (hypoxia or
anoxia) from cellular respiration and bacterial
degradation
HAB commonly referred to Red Tide
HAB effects
1. Combination portions of our planet in which all life exists.
It also includes land, water, and atmosphere.
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2. Squirrels, groundhogs, birds, and deer have been spotted
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3. T or F Organisms rely on other organisms to live.
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4. Seaweed, rocks, sand, water, whales, fish, and
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6. The ultimate energy source is:
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7. T or F Species can occupy the same niche
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8. Oxygen is considered a ____ factor.
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9.Group of ecosystems that have the same climate
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10. A group of individuals that belong to
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11. The sequence of ecological organization
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12. T or F The three main ecological methods for
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13. A biotic factor of Delcastle’s
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14. T or F Energy flows in a circular
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15. A network of complex interactions formed by the
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16. Approximately___% of energy flows
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18. T or F energy flows in one direction and will
never return in the same form in an ecosystem.
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19. T or F Matter can be recycles in an ecosystem.
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20. The only cycle of matter that does not
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