THE BIOSPHERE Ch. 3 p.62-83

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THE BIOSPHERECh. 3 p.62-83
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What is Ecology?

• Study of interactions between organisms and
  between organisms and their environment.

Ernst Haeckel coined term Ecology in
1866 Greek word oikos means house Natures
housescome in many sizes
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Levels of Organization

• Ecologist study organisms ranging from the
  various levels of organization
• Species
• Population
• Community
• Ecosystem
• Biome
• Biosphere

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Organism
Species

• Group of similar organisms that can breed and
  produce fertile offspring

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Population
Population

• group of organisms, all of the same species,
  which interbreed and live in the same area.

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Community
Community

• an assemblage of different populations that live
  together

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Ecosystem
Ecosystem

• Collection of organisms that live in a place with
  the nonliving environment

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Ecosystem
Biome

• Group of ecosystems with the same climate and
  dominant commuties

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Ecosystem
Biosphere

• The part of the earth where life exists including
  land, water, air, and atmosphere

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Three Ecological Methods of Study

• Observing
• What species live here?
• How many individuals of species are there?
• Experimenting
• Used to test a hypothesis
• Ex - making artificial environments in the lab
• Modeling
• Making models to gain insight into complex
  phenomena
• Ex. - Global warming

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Autotrophs vs. Heterotrophs

• Autotrophs make their own food so they are
  called PRODUCERS

• Heterotrophs get their food from another source
  so they are called CONSUMERS

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Two Main forms of Energy for Autotrophs

• Sunlight
• The main source of energy for life on earth
• Photosynthesis
• Chemical
• Some organisms such as bacteria, rely on the
  energy stored in inorganic compounds
• Chemosynthesis

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Types of Consumers
Omnivores Eat plants and meat
Herbivores- only eat plants
Carnivores - only eat meat
Detritivores and Decomposers Feeds on plant and
animal remains
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How does Energy flow through an Ecosystem?

• Energy flows through an ecosystem in ONE
  direction,
• sun or chemicals
• Autotrophs
• heterotrophs

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Energy Flow in Ecosystems
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Feeding Relationships

• Food Chain steps of organisms transferring
  energy by eating being eaten

• Food Web network of all the food chains in an
  ecosystem

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Food Web
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Ecological Pyramids

• Trophic Level each step in a food chain or food
  web

Biomass Pyramid
Energy Pyramid
Pyramid of Numbers
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Pyramid of Numbers -relative number of
individuals at each trophic level
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Pyramid of Biomass - amount of potential food
available for each trophic level
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Pyramid of Energy - amount of energy available at
each trophic level

• Only 10 of the energy from each trophic level is
  passed on to the next level

• Most of the energy is used by the organisms for
  life processes
• Some of the energy is lost as heat

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How does Matter move through an ecosystem?

• Unlike the one way flow of energy, matter is
  recycled within between ecosystems
• Nutrients are passed between
• organisms the environment through
  biogeochemical cycles
• Biogeochemical Cycles
• Bio life
• Geo Earth
• Chemo chemical

• WATER CYCLE
• NUTRIENT CYCLES
• CARBON CYCLE
• NITROGEN CYCLE
• PHOSPHORUS CYCLE

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Why are nutrients important ?

• Every living organism needs nutrients to build
  tissues and carry out essential life functions.

• 95 of your body is made of
• OXYGEN
• CARBON
• HYDROGEN
• NITROGEN

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Availibility of nutrients

• If a nutrient is in short supply, it will limit
  an organisms growth. It is called a limiting
  nutrient
• When a limiting nutrient is dumped into a lake or
  pond, an algal bloom occurs and can disrupt the
  ecosystem

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THE WATER CYCLE
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CARBON CYCLE (see fig.3-13)

• 4 PROCESSES MOVE CARBON THROUGH ITS CYCLE
• Biological
• Geochemical
• Mixed biochemical
• Human Activity

CO2
CO2
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NITROGEN CYCLE (see fig.3-14)
N2 in Atmosphere

• Nitrogen-containing nutrients in the biosphere
  include
• Ammonia (NH3)
• Nitrate (NO3-)
• Nitrite (NO2-)
• ORGANISMS NEED NITROGEN TO MAKE AMINO ACIDS FOR
  BUILDING PROTEINS!!!

N03- N02-
NH3
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PHOSPHORUS CYCLE (see fig.3-15)
PHOSPHORUS FORMS PART OF IMPORTANT
LIFE-SUSTAINING MOLECULES (ex. DNA RNA)