Covers: 7-2; 3-4; 3-2, 3-3 & 5-1; 8-4 & 8-5

2-3, 2-4, 3-2, 3-3, & 3-4: Energy & Matter

Energy

• Energy is the capacity to do work or transfer heat

• Two Kinds of Energy moving (kinetic) & stored (potential) energy.

  • Kinetic Energy is associated with motion

    • Heat / Thermal Energy & Electromagnetic Radiation

  • Potential Energy is stored and could be potentially used

  • Potential Energy can be changed to Kinetic Energy

• Energy Quality is how easy and useful energy is

• High-Quality Energy is energy that's concentrated and easy to use, like electricity or fossil fuels, with little waste.

• Low-Quality Energy is energy that's spread out and not as useful

  • Leads to more waste and less efficiency, like heat or movement

• First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed

  • aka Law of Conservation of Energy

• Second Law of Thermodynamics states that energy changes from high quality to low quality as it transforms from one form to another

  • aka Law of Conservation of Matter

Systems

• Systems are interconnected components and processes that work together

  • Inputs: Resources or factors that enter a system

    • Sunlight, Water, Nutrients, etc.

  • Throughputs: Internal processes that transform or use the inputs

    • Photosynthesis

  • Outputs: Results or products that the system produces

    • Oxygen produced by plants

• Feedback loops are mechanisms that influence how a system responds to changes.

  • Positive Feedback Loop is when a change makes things get even more extreme in the same way.

    • Ice Melts → Exposes Dark Water → Dark Water absorbs Sunlight → More Heat → More Ice melts

    • Can be good and bad

  • Negative Feedback Loop is when changes stabilize a system

    • Ex: Human body temp rises, humans sweat to cool down.

Ecosystems

• Ecology is the science that explores how living things and their surroundings work together

• 5 Levels of Interactions are organism, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere

  • Organism is an individual living being

  • Population are groups of the same species living in a specific area

  • Communities consist of all the different species living in the same area

  • Ecosystems have all living organisms and their physical environment in a given region

  • The Biosphere includes all ecosystems on Earth, where life exists

• Trophic Level is a specific rank in the food chain that describes an organism's role in capturing or consuming energy and nutrients.

  • Producers (autotrophs) use nutrients from their environment (photosynthesis)

  • Primary consumers (herbivores) eat mostly green plants (caterpillars, giraffes, etc.)

  • Secondary consumers (carnivores) are animals that eat other animals (Spiders, lions, etc.)

  • Tertiary consumers eat secondary consumers (tigers, killer whales, etc.)

• Decomposers break down dead plant and animal material

  • Returns nutrients to the soil, water, and air for producers

• Detritivores feed on the dead bodies of organisms (vultures)

Energy in Ecosystems

• Food Chain is a line that shows how animals and plants eat each other to get energy

• Food webs are networks of interconnected food chains

  • Represents the complex interactions of multiple species in an ecosystem

• Biomass is the total weight of all living things in an area or ecosystem

• 10% Rule is where in each tropic level, 90% of energy is lost (10% transferred to next level)

• Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) total energy plants capture from the sun through photosynthesis before they use some of it for their own needs

• Net Primary Productivity (NPP) is the energy left over for other organisms after plants have used some for themselves.

Cycles in Ecosystems

• Hydrologic, Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphate, & Sulfur Cycle

• Refer to drawings

5-1: Species Interactions

• Aquatic Life Zones = oceanic biomes

• Species interactions are ways different types of organisms affect each other.

• Interspecific competition is when different species compete for the same resources.

• Predation is when one organism hunts and eats another.

• Parasitism is when one organism benefits at the expense of another by living on or inside it.

• Mutualism is a relationship where both organisms benefit.

• Commensalism is a relationship where one organism benefits, and the other is neither helped nor harmed.

• Interspecific competition is when different species compete for resources

  • Niche Overlap occurs when they share similar resource needs and resource partitioning when they divide resources to reduce competition.

• Predator-Prey Relationships involve (predator) hunting and consuming another (prey)

  • Predators use various techniques to catch prey → Prey develop avoidance strategies

  • → Leads to co-evolution (mutual adaptation) over time.

7-2: Climate + Location = Biomes

Terrestrial Biomes

• Climate + global air circulation & ocean currents = varying types of biomes

• Climate and vegetation vary according to latitude and elevation

• Biomes are large terrestrial regions, characterized by certain climates & plant life.

• Productivity is how quickly plants and animals grow and make new life in an ecosystem.

Deserts, Grasslands, & Forests

• A Desert has low & scattered annual precipitation

  • During Day, sun warms ground and evaporates water

  • During night, heat radiates into atmosphere

• Three Desert Types are tropical, temperate, and cold deserts.

  • Tropical Deserts are hot & dry with few plants

  • Temperate Deserts are hot in summers / cooler in winters, more precipitation, and more (but sparse) vegetation

  • Cold Deserts have cold winters, warm summers, low precipitation, and many types of vegetation.

• Three Grassland Types are tropical, temperate, and cold (artic tundra)

  • Tropical Grasslands (savanna) are warm all year long, have sparse plants, and grazing (grass eating) animals

  • Temperate Grasslands (prairie) have cold winters, hot/dry summers, very fertile soil, lots of grass (most used biome for farms), and sparse trees

  • Cold Grasslands (artic tundra) bitterly cold, treeless, permafrost, thick coated animals, and fragile ecosystem.

    • Permafrost is frozen underground soil, creating shallow ponds when rain falls.

• Three Forest Types are tropical, temperate, and cold

  • Tropical Rain Forests are found near equator, year-round warm, moist, daily rainfall, broadleaf evergreen plants, minimal floor vegetation, and high productivity

  • Temperate Deciduous Forest cooler temperatures and fewer/slower decomposers

    • Think New York / Pennsylvania forests

  • Cold / Northern Coniferous Forests / Boreal Forests have long winters, extremely cold, minimal sunlight, and dominated by few species.

    • Think Alaska & Evergreen Trees

Mountains

• Contain majority of world forests

• Habitats for endemic species, aka species not found anywhere else in the world

• Sanctuaries for animals that are migrating

• Play a critical role in the hydrological cycle (snow/ice)

Aquatic Biomes

• Aquatic systems can be broadly categorized into marine (oceanic) and freshwater zones.

• Turbidity Is cloudiness in water that can block photosynthesis

  • Most photosynthesis occurs in the euphotic zone

  • More algae = more cloudiness

  • Excessive Human Caused Runoff = more cloudiness

• Aquatic Organisms are classified into three main groups:

  • plankton (small, drifting organisms)

    • Algae & Small Plants / Animals (Base of food chain)

    • Produces half of earth’s oxygen

  • nekton (swimming organisms)

    • Fish, turtles, & whales

  • benthos (organisms living on the bottom of bodies of water)

    • Oysters & Sea Stars

  • decomposers (bacteria) breaking down organic matter.

  • Exist in different areas based on: temperature, oxygen content, food availability, and amount of light / nutrients

• Marine Aquatic (Saltwater) Systems include various zones:

  • Coastal zones are diverse areas where land meets the sea, offering a mix of ecosystems

    • Beaches, rocky shores, and wetlands

    • 90% of marine / oceanic species

  • Estuaries is where a river (freshwater) meets the sea (saltwater)

  • Coastal wetlands filter water, provide homes for many species, and help prevent coastal erosion.

    • Related to estuaries

    • High nutrient input from rivers, rapid circulation of nutrients, & ample sunlight from shallow waters

      • High productivity

    • Marshes and Swamps (Mangrove forests)

  • Intertidal zones area of shoreline between high & low tides

    • Organisms need to avoid being swept away

    • Salinity will change frequently

  • The Open Sea sharp increase in water depth separating the coastal zone.

  • All these biomes can be destroyed by: costal development, runoff, pollution, overfishing, invasive species, ocean warming, and ocean acidification

• Freshwater Aquatic Systems:

  • Surface water Bodies of freshwater on the Earth's surface, such as ponds, lakes, and reservoirs

    • Precipitation that doesn’t sink into ground / evaporate

  • Runoff is surface water that flows into bodies of water

  • Watershed Area of land that drains into a specific body of water, including all the rivers, streams, and tributaries that feed it

    • Depositors sediment and dissolved substances

    Lakes Large bodies of freshwater often formed in depressions in the Earth's surface, with various sizes and characteristics.

    • Three Layers: Limnetic, Profundal, & Benthic Zones

  • Rivers & Streams:

    • Rivers are typically larger, flowing bodies of freshwater

    • Streams are smaller

    • Both vital for transporting water and nutrients through landscapes.

  • River Deltas Where rivers meet the sea, forming unique and highly productive ecosystems due to sediment deposition.

  • Water flows in order: Source Zone, Transition Zone, & Floodplane Zone

  • Inland Wetland Waterlogged areas found away from the coast

    • Swamps and marshes

    • Supports diverse species & does functions like water purification and flood control.

  • Lakes are divided into zones:

    • oligotrophic (nutrient-poor)

    • mesotrophic (moderate nutrient levels)

    • eutrophic (nutrient-rich) lakes, with cultural eutrophication referring to human-induced nutrient enrichment in bodies of water.

  • Human impacts:

    • Dams and canals restrict 40% of rivers → destroyed terrestrial & aquatic habitats (like deltas and estuaries)

    • Flood control levees / methods destroy similar habitats

    • Cities and farms add polutiants to freshwater systems

      • Ex: lakes with runoff from fertilizers causes explosions of algae, deprecating the lake’s oxygen supply

    • Inand wetlands being drained for farmland / urban development.

    • Changing freshwater and marine ecosystems by altering water quality

    • Introducing pollutants

    • Affecting habitat and species

    • → Consequences for ecosystem health and the services they provide