Bio

How does matter travel through an ecosystem

-biological processes

What processes help matter cycle through ecosystems

-photosynthesis

-cellular respiration

-feeding (supplying nourishment to someone else)

-decomposition

How is energy transferred in ecosystem

-producers use energy from the sun to preform photosynthesis (which create sugar which the plants use to grow)

-primary consumers eat producers for energy

-secondary consumers eat primary consumers eat consumers, continues until energy runs out (by apex predator)

Where does matter travel through in the Earth?

-lithosphere

-atompshere

-biosphere

-hydropshere

source of energy for life processes

Sunlight

producers

-aka autotrophs

-ex: plants, algae, photosynthetic bacteria (commonly cyanobacteria)

-capture energy from sun (or high-energy chemicals)making them energy-rich compounds & convert it into forms for living cells to use

-used by primary consumers

primary consumer

-rely on producers for energy

secondary consumer

-relys on primary consumer for energy

tertiary consumer

-relys on secondary consumer for energy

quaternary consumer

-relys on tertiary consumer for energy

how do consumers obtain energy

-rely on other organisms (can be producer or other consumer) for energy/nutrients

consumers

-aka heterotrophs

-depend on autrotrophs for food

-classified as herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers

herbivores

-only eat plants

carnivores

-only eat meat

omnivores

-eat plants AND meat

decomposers roles in flow of energy

-consumers that chemically break down dead/decaying matter

-create detrius (=small pieces of dead/decaying plant/animal remains)

-ex: bacteria. fungi

-extract remaining chemical energy from waste products and recycle nutrients that keep producers functioning

5 factors that affect population growth

-geographic range

-population distribution

-density

-growth rate

-age structure

geographic range

-area inhabited by a population (group of the same species)

-can vary enormously in size (depends on species)

-ex: geographic range of mountain lions = the americas

population distribution

-pattern in which organisms live in area

-ex: random, clumped, uniform

population density

#species in an area

-total population/total land area = PD

-same environment can have different specials w dif densities

-land area increases, decrease PD

-total population increases, increase PD

age structure

-% of population in different ages

-importance= shows rapid, stable, or declining growth, health of population and whether it grows, shrinks, or stays the same

visualizes survival/birth rates depending on age

shows re-productively active women

growth rate

-#births

-#deaths

-rate which indivudals enter (immigration) vs exit (emigration) pop

when does population grow

-birth rate > death rate

-immigration > emmigration

immigration/emmigration cause

-search for mates/food

exponential growth graph

-ideal conditions + unlimited resources: happens when population is provided with unlimited food/space, protection form predators.disease, and removal of waste products (prevents waste from becoming toxic)

-population increases because more survival leads to more offspring

-larger population gets, faster it grows

-size of new generation > previous gen

-creates J curve

-if nothing stopped, get infenitely bigger

logistic growth curve

-population growth slows, then stops, following period of exponential growth, reaches carrying capacity

characterized by limits on growth, which causes a falling growth rate

-many familiar plants/animal populations have this

carrying capacity

-maximum # individuals of particular species that specific environment can support

-average growth rate = 0

-factors that affect carrying capacity: density dependent factors + density independent factors

density independent factors

-abiotic

-unpredictable

-do not depend on PD

-ex: severe weather (drought, hurricanes, blizzards)

-natural disasters (wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis)

-human activity (pollution, oil spills, chemical dumping, damning rivers, deforestation)

density dependent factors

-biotic

-operate when population reaches certain level (CC)

-no big affect in scattered populations because there are less community interactions

-depend on PD

-drives logistic growth

-include competition, herbivory. predation, parasitism, disease, stress from overcrowding

limitng factors

too much/little of any aboitic fosters that can limit/prevent growth of population

niche

• physical and biological conditions in which a species lives and the way the species obtains what it needs to survive and reproduce.

-where it lives and how are aboitic/biotic factor necessary for survival

population equilibrium,

balance between # births and deaths

competition

-desnity dependent limiting factor

-more individuals in area, quicker resources are used

-compete for essentials (food, water, space, sunlight)

-grazing animals compete in territories where they can breed + raise off spring, cannot succeed w/ no mate

-can lower birth rates and/or increase death rates

symbiotic

-mutalism

-commensalism

-parasitism

predator-prey

-regulate most populations

-controlled by predation=top-down regulation

-controlled by resources (water, food, habitat, mates)= bottom-up reg

-increase pred, decrease prey

-increase prey, increase pred

parasitism/disease

-the more dense the host pop, more easily parasites can spread

-feed at host expense, can weaken but rarely cause death

mutalism

-both species benefit (++)

-ex: bee, flower

commensalism

-one benefits, other neither (unharmed) (+/0)

-ex: barncale,whale

parasitsm

-one benefits, one is harmed (+-)

-human, tapeworm

keystone

-essential to ecyosystem, stabilizes it, fall apart w/o it

-ex: Yellowstone wolves

cause of human enviriimental problems (in relation to grwoth rate)

-rapid increase, with limited resources

population equilibirum

balance between briths/deaths

ecological pryamids

relative amount of energy/matter within each trophic level in given food chain/web

-energy, biomass, #s

pyramid of energy

-expand energy aquired from life processes (cell resp) for the movement, growth, reproduction

-byproduct of activities: 90% released into environment as heat

-10% transfer, why they can’t continue forever (rarely above quaternary)

most accurate rep of how much useable energy = lost

complex/difficult to measure (track for heat loss + metabolic output over time)

biomass p

-mass (amount of living tissue) in each trophic level

-greatest = base w/ producers

-more animals means more biomass

-avilable energy partley detir,ines amount of biomass specific trophic level can support

evalture total organic mass (wieght) of recently dead tissue

not always accurate due to quickly reproducing algae

#

-realtive number of organism in each tl

-similar shape to biomass

simple count of # individual per trophic level

doesn’t account for weight (blade grass counts the same as tree in producers)

what 2 types of energy can be used by producers in an energy p

light or chemical

ex exponential growrh

-invasive species due to unlimited resources

-bacteria through binary fission

graph of human population growth

-exponential (J)
-indistroal revolution created medicine. decreased deaths

laws of limiting factors

-too much/little fo abiotic factor prevents growth of species in ecosysten

-abiotic factor outside range of tolerance over time causes death

terrestial abiotic factor

temp

water/moistire

soil

pH

aquatic aboitic facotr

-salinity

-temp

-sunlight

-dissovled oxygen

pH

limiting factor

controls growth of pop

-some deoend on pop density. others don’t

community interactions

-how one organism interacts with another defines niche

-ex: comp. predation, symbosis affect ecosystem

competition

-DD

-more individuals, quicker resources are used

-occurs is crowded populations when indivudals compete for food, water, space, sunlight, other essentials

-grazing animals compete for territories to breed/raise offspring (no established territory, no mates, no breeding)

-can lower birth rates, increase death rates (o both)

predator prey

-DD

-control most of natures population

-regulation of population through predation

2 types: top-down, bottom-up regulation

top down regulation

controlled by predation

bottom-up reg

-controlled by resources

-ex: water, habitat, mates

ex pred prey relationship[

wolf pop grows, kills more moose than born, moose death rate rises higher than birth rate, moose pop falls, wolves don’t have enough food, wolves starve (higher death rate lower birth rate), wolf pop falls, moose death rates drops with less predators

-repeat

parasitsm and disease

-DD

-desner host pop, easier parasites spread from one host to other

-feed at expense of host, causing weakness, disease, or death

-ex: ticks eating hedgehog blood transmits disease causing bacteria

-if parasites kill predator, prey increases for short perio dog time before pop decreases, due to densely packed, lead to infestation

keystone speices

-determine composition of rest of community, matain stability

ecological sucession

-series of more/less predictable changes that occur in commmunity over time

-species die out, new species move in

-# different species increases, biodiversity increases

primary sucession

-creates new land/sterilize existing area

-caused by volcanic exolsion or retreating glaciers

-no remnants of older community

pioneer specues

-first to colonize barren areas

-have rapid growth and reprodunction

-hgih tolerance to poor environmental conditions

-when dead, add organic matter to weathered rock fragments to create nutrients rich soil

-happen in both secondary and prumary sucession

-don’t survive for ling once they help additional organisms grow

secondary sucession

-occurs in existing communities which are not completely controlled by distrubances

-faster than primary sucesson because soil survives distruabce, vegetation regrows rapidly

-ex: wildfire

aquatic sucession

-sucession in aquatic ecosystems

fire and suecession

-nureints release into soil

-remenant roods and seeds regrow

-energy flow and nutrient cycling restored

biodiviersity

-food, medicine, ecosystem goods/serivces

-healthy habitat

-total of all genetically based variation in all organisms in biospehre

-ecosystem diversity, species diversity, genetic diversity

human caused biodiversity htreats

-altering habitats

-hunting

-introduction of invasive speices

-pollution in food web

-contribution to climate change

greatest wave of extinction caused by

-human activty

how to stop growth of introduced species

-parasites (exponentially reproduce)

-predators (same issue can occur)

-no perfect solution

bioaccumilation

process where concertrations of harmful substances increase in organism over time

biomagnification

-concertations of harmful subsstances increase in organisms in higher trophic levels if food web/choian

-carnovies at highest risk, affects entries web tho