How do organisms obtain energy in an ecosystem?

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• How do organisms obtain energy in an ecosystem?
• A. Organisms that take in light energy change
• it into chemical energy are called producers
  or autotrophs. These organisms photosynthesize.
• Examples
• Plants
• Some bacteria
• Algae
• Able to make food for themselves.

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• B. Organisms that must eat other organisms to
• get their energy are called consumers or
  heterotrophs
• Come in three types
• Herbivores Eat plants (not animals)
• Examples Deer, cow, giraffe
• Carnivores Eat animals
• Examples Wolf, shark, tiger
• Omnivore Eat plants animals
• Examples Bear humans

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• C. Organisms that get their energy from the
• energy that is locked inside dead organisms
  are called decomposers or detritivores
• Examples
• Hyenas
• Fungi
• Bacteria

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• How do ecologists map out the energy flow in an
  ecosystem?
• To understand how energy flows through an
  ecosystem scientists study feeding relationships,
  or what eats what. Each step is called a trophic
  level.
• The first level is always made of
  producers/autotrophs, which produce their own
  food, from the energy they take in.
• All other levels are made up of
  consumers/heterotrophs, which get their energy or
  food from the previous level.

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• A food chain is a model or drawing that shows how
  energy passes through an ecosystem (by showing
  what eats what)
• The flow of energy is
• always one way.
• Draw

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• A bunch of interconnecting food chains in an
  ecosystem make up a food web. It shows all
  possible feeding relationships in an ecosystem.
• Draw

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• Food Web animation

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• What is an ecological pyramid?
• An ecological pyramid is another way to show how
  materials move through an ecosystem.
• Each level represents a trophic level
• Come in 3 types or forms pyramid of energy,
  pyramid of biomass pyramid of numbers

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• Pyramid of Energy
• Indicates the amount of energy available to each
  trophic level.
• 10 of the energy taken in by the organisms at a
  level is available to be passed on to the next
  level
• 90 of the energy taken in by the organisms at a
  level is used by the organisms to live
• Called the 10 Rule

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• The same pyramid structure can be used to
  represent the biomass or the number of each
  organism at each trophic level in an ecosystem.
• In a healthy and stable ecosystem, as you move up
  the pyramid each block should get smaller.
• What would happen if this wasnt true? What if
  there were more carnivores than there were
  herbivores?

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• Recycling of Matter in Ecosystems
• Matter, atoms, can not be created or destroyed.
  They are constantly being reused or cycled
  through the biosphere.
• Nutrients, which are made of matter, cycle
  through the ecosystem are passed from organism
  to organism
• Taken in when organisms eat breath in
• Given off in waste? (pooping breathing out)
• Given off when they die and are decomposed
• Passed on when eaten by other organisms

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• Some of the major substances that cycle through
  our ecosystems are
• water
• carbon
• oxygen
• nitrogen

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• Carbon Oxygen Cycle
• Carbon oxygen cycle together through the
  ecosystem.
• Producers (plants) take in carbon dioxide (CO2)
  water (H2O) and give off oxygen (O2)as waste.
• Consumers (animals) breath in oxygen (O2) and
  eat plants animals to take in both carbon
  oxygen.
• Animals give off carbon dioxide (CO2)when they
  breathe out. Carbon oxygen are also released
  in the ecosystem when they go the bathroom or die
  decompose.

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• Nitrogen Cycle
• Organisms need nitrogen to make proteins which
  build muscle and bone.
• 78 of the air is made of nitrogen BUT most
  organisms can not take in nitrogen directly from
  the air.
• Some bacteria can take nitrogen from the air and
  change it into a different form of nitrogen that
  can be taken in by plants.
• These bacteria can live in water, soil and roots
  of some plants called legumes
• Examples of legumes clover, peas,
• beans, alfalfa

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Nitrogen Fixation is the process of taking
nitrogen in the air and changing it into a form
that plants and animals can use
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• Plants take in the nitrogen from the soil and can
  pass it on to animals when eaten.
• Nitrogen from dead decaying organisms waste
  goes back into the soil so it can be taken up by
  plants again.
• Humans can add nitrogen to soil by putting
  man-made fertilizers or manure on the soil.

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