Transcript The Biosphere

The Biosphere
Chapter 3
Objectives
Distinguish
between the biotic and a biotic
factors in the environment.
Compare the different levels of biological
organization
Explain the difference between niche and
habitat.
What is Ecology?
Ecology
is a scientific study of
interactions among organisms and
between organisms and their
environment
Biosphere
 Biosphere-
part of the earth that supports life.
 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
What shapes an ecosystem?
Factors  physical, or
nonliving factors that affect organisms
Abiotic
bullfrog
affected by availability of water
and temperature of air
What shapes an ecosystem?
Biotic
and Abiotic Factors
Biotic Factors  living things that
affect an organism

biotic
factors affecting bullfrog: plants it
eats, birds that might eat it, other species
that compete for food or space
Interactions and Interdependence
 Interactions
within the biosphere produce a
web of interdependence between organisms
and the environment in which they live
Biotic and Abiotic Factors
Abiotic Factors
Biotic Factors
ECOSYSTEM
Levels of Organization
 Individual
or Organism: interactions between an
organism and its surroundings
 cottontail rabbit
 Population: groups of Organism 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
Where animal live
Habitat a place where an organism lives
out its life. It includes both biotic and
abiotic factors.
Niche is all strategies and adaptations a
species uses in its environment.
Niche

An organism’s niche includes:
 Place
in food web
 Range of temperatures organism needs to survive
 Type of food it eats
 How it obtains food
 Other species that use it as food
 Physical conditions necessary for survival
 When and how it reproduces
Niche
 Two
species cannot share the same niche in the
same habitat.
 Different species can occupy similar niches.
 Ex
- three species of warblers live in the same spruce
trees but feed at different elevations and in different
part of the trees
Warbler Niches
Cape May Warbler
Feeds at the tips of branches
near the top of the tree
Bay-Breasted Warbler
Feeds in the middle
part of the tree
Spruce tree
 If
you were to turn over a log in the woods you
would see centipedes, worm, ants and millipedes.
 They all look similar and they have similar niches.
 But they all feed on different things.
 Centipede eats beetles
 Worms eat organic material
 Ants eat dead insects
 Millipedes eat decaying leaves
Symbiosis
 When
two species live close together.
 Three types:
 Parasitism
– one is harmed (host), one benefits
(parasite)
 Mutualism – both benefit
 Commensalism – one is neutral, one benefits
Mutualism
Parasitism
Commensalism
Homework
 Pg
45
 1-5
 Read 2.2
Nutrition and Energy Flow 2.2
 Objectives
 Compare
how organism satisfy their nutritional
needs
 Trace the path of energy and matter in an
ecosystem
 Analyze how matter is cycled in the abiotic and
biotic parts of a biosphere
Producers
 Autotrophs
an organism that uses light energy or
energy stored in chemical form to make energy
rich compounds–
 “self feed”
 Use sunlight to create carbohydrates via
photosynthesis
 Ex – Plants, algae and some bacteria
Producers
Consumers
 Heterotroph
organism that cannot make their
own food and feeds on others.
 Must eat to obtain energy.
 Ex – animals, fungi, some protists
Types of Heterotrophs
– eats plants
 Carnivore – eats animals
 Omnivore – eats plants and animals
 Scavengers – eats plant and animal remains
 Herbivore
 Ex-
snails, crabs, earthworms, vultures
 Decomposer
 Ex
– breaks down organic matter
– bacteria and fungi
Feeding Relationships
 Energy
flows through an ecosystem in one
direction,
 from the sun or inorganic compounds 
autotrophs (producers)  various heterotrophs
(consumers).
Food Chain
 Food
Chain is a simple model that shows how
energy and matter move throughout an
ecosystem.
 A series of steps in which organisms transfer
energy by eating and being eaten.
i.e. Wheat  mouse  snake  hawk
Food Chain Example
Food Web
 Food
wed a model that showed all the
possible feeding relationships at each trophic
level.
 Network of complex interactions formed by
the feeding relationship among the various
organisms in an ecosystem.
Trophic Levels
 Trophic
Levels each step in a food chain or food
web
1st
level = producers
2nd, 3rd,
or higher levels = consumers
 Usually no more than 5 levels because 90% of
energy is lost at each level.
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
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
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
Interactions and Interdependence
 Interactions
within the biosphere produce a
web of interdependence between organisms
and the environment in which they live
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!!