Biology semester 2

Ecology is the study of how living things interact with the environment; how living things respond to the changes in their environment. Ecologists rely on 3 main approaches: Observation, Experimentation, and modeling. There are 2 types of observation, Quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative observation is when you observe using an amount and qualitative observation is when you use your senses to make an observation. There are 6 levels of organization in the environment: Individual organisms,  population, community, ecosystem, biome, and biosphere. The individual organism is the simplest level, and the biosphere is the most complex. Weather is a short-term state of the atmosphere. It can change within minutes, or hours.Climate is a long-term state of weather. It is the average weather over many years in one specific state. Convection is when hot water molecules rise and the cold water molecules sink. This is the reason you see the bubbles floating to the top when water is boiling. In the atmosphere, hot air rises and cold air comes down. In the hydrosphere, hot water rises and cold water comes down. There are 4-5 parts of earth's system, the lithosphere which is the geological part, the atmosphere which is the surroundings of earth, The hydrosphere which are the aquatic parts, the biosphere which is the life part, and the cryosphere which is ice parts. The cryosphere is counted in the hydrosphere most of the time, but is a separate part as well. A population is all the individuals of a species that live together in an area at the same time. The study of populations is called demography. Demographers focus on 3 main aspects of their study: Size, Uniform, and Dispersion. Dispersion is the act of distributing or separating things. There are 3 dispersion groups, clumped, random, or uniform. We also learned about invasive species. Invasive species are species that are non-native to the land they are on, and they are harmful to other plants. Producers are organisms which make their own food and energy. Consumers are the opposite. They rely and depend on eating other organisms in order to have energy and food. Decomposers are organisms which break down dead organic materials and waste. The sun is the ultimate source of energy in an ecosystem. The sun helps Autotrophs make their own food. Autotrophs are organisms who feed themselves. There are 2 types of autotrophs, Photosynthetic, and Chemosynthetic. Photosynthetic autotrophs use light to create their energy and Chemosynthetic gather chemicals from gasses and other things to make energy. Heterotrophs are organisms who depend on others to feed and grain energy, and there are 6 types. 3 consumers are Herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores, and 3 decomposers are scavengers, detritivores and saprotrophs. In energy transfer, the energy gets moved through each organism. The food chain is a representation of who eats whom, It is a single track of energy flow. Food webs are a bunch of interconnected food chains. There are more options to feed in a food web, and decomposers are not included. The trophic levels of an environment are the feeding levels in an ecosystem. The pyramid of biomass is the amount of matter of life. It shows how much mass is in an organism and how much moves on. For the pyramid of energy, there is only 10% transferred through the organisms. The remaining 90% of energy is used for survival and a lot of it is lost to heat. In an energy pyramid, you can not represent more than 4 levels. Biomagnification is the parts per trillion of an organism. Each level shows bioaccumulation and how many parts per mercury.  There are 4 main cycles: The Hydrological cycle, the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, and the phosphorus cycle. The hydrological cycle is the cycle in which water travels throughout many forms and continues. We learned about how water evaporates and transpirates from bodies of water and leaves and they condensate to clouds and precipitation into rain hail, snow and more. The water then reaches the ground and either becomes runoff as it goes back to a water body or it seeps into the ground in a process called infiltration. If the seeped water reaches the water table, it is called percolation. The carbon cycle is helpful to photosynthesis and gives it to organisms. Through cellular respiration, the organism gives back the carbon dioxide and more. Humans are using excess fossil fuel, and with all the pollution, our atmosphere is filled with bad things. The nitrogen cycle processes in the ground, with ammonifying bacterias, nitrifying bacterias, denitrifying bacterias and decomposing bacterias. The phosphorus cycle has no atmospheric involvement like the other cycles. Mountains push rocks down and the topsoil gets pressured and pushes all the minerals in the soil and turns it into rock. The rock then becomes mountains due to the phosphorus in the soil and the whole cycle repeats again. Energy is the ability to do work, or to make a change. There are 2 types of energy, Potential energy and kinetic energy. Potential energy stores energy while kinetic energy does the opposite and uses energy. ATP gets used by everything that lives. ATP stands for Adenosine-Triphosphate. ATP is basically the energy currency of all living cells. ATP is used because it stores energy, and it can be recharged. The structure of ATP consists of Adenine, Ribose, and phosphate group (WHich is made of phosphates and oxygen). When the third phosphate bond breaks off, the energy that is stored between phosphate molecules gets released.  For photosynthesis to occur, you need the sun's radiant energy, chlorophyll, water, and carbon Dioxide. A ray of sunlight consists of the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum has gamma rays, x-rays, UV rays, visible light, infrared waves, microwaves, and radio waves. The visible light in the spectrum allows you to see colors like the rainbow. The substance that absorbs light is called pigments. There are three pigments in leaves: Chlorophyll-a, Chlorophyll-b, and carotene. Chlorophyll-a is the major pigment in leaves, and the other 2 pigments assist. The organelle that is responsible for photosynthesis is Chlorophyll. There are 3 processes of this, Ionization, electron transport chain, and chemiosmosis. Ionization is the process of when hydrogen atoms break to create ions. An ion is a charged particle of energy. If it is a positive charge, the particle is called a proton and if it is negative, the particle is called an electron. The electron transport chain is a series of electron carrier proteins that shuttle high energy electrons , and create the conditions needed for ATP synthesis. ATP synthesis is the process of converting ADP to ATP. When ATP synthase, a protein, spans the membrane and allows protons to pass through, the protein is forced to rotate Like turbine. As \it rotates, ATP synthase, ADP, and a phosphate group combine to create ATP.  You get energy from organic compounds, macromolecules, and nutrients. You can get these from carbohydrates, nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids. You get energy by consuming and digesting organic compounds, and taking the nutrients to help yourself. Plants also need to break down their macronutrients, in order to move, live, and grow. The formula for cellular respiration is: C(6)H(12)O(6)+6O(2) →6CO(2)+6H(2)O+ATP. This basically translates into: 1 glucose molecule + 6 oxygen molecules →6 Carbon Dioxide Molecules + 6 Water molecules + ATP. Aerobic means that oxygen is needed, while anaerobic means oxygen is not necessary. The glycolysis recitation can occur in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, and it occurs in the cytosol of a cell. In glycolysis, the cell must invest 2 ATP molecules in order to produce 4 molecules. The net gain in this reaction is 2 molecules. Molecules of glucose are eventually broken down into 2 molecules of pyruvic acid. The Krebs cycle occurs inside the Matrix of the mitochondria. It can occur through both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Glycolysis occurs in the cytosol of the mitochondria, and the ETC happens in the outer membrane of the mitochondria. When glycolysis occurs in aerobic conditions, the outcomes are best because 38 ATP molecules can be produced. For anaerobic conditions, only 2 ATP molecules can be produced. Variation is the difference between cells, individual organisms, or groups of organisms of any species, caused by genetic differences gained over time. There are 2 types of variation, Genotypic and Phenotypic. Genotypic variation is genetic difference, and phenotypic variation is difference in physical appearance, or behaviors. Adaptation is the changes in the population to suit its habitat. It is a heritable trait, which can be increasing or decreasing your chances of survival. Acclimatization is a short term physiological change in an individual, only lasting for a lifetime. Acquired traits are somatic variations which animals develop during their lifetime. Inherited traits are genetic variations which animals pass to their offspring.  Earth originated 4.6 billion years ago, and it is believed that 3.7 billion years ago, life first appeared on earth. Fossils are preserved remains of a once living organism. You can find the age of a fossil from 2 methods: relative dating, and radiometric dating. Relative dating helps you find the approximate age of fossils based on the layers and strats of the stone. Radiometric dating gives you an absolute numerical number as to how old the fossil is. Half life is the length of time it takes for one half of any size sample of an isotope to decay into stable form. When that halflife is split into 2, it is called the second half life. Embryological evidence shows that we have a common ancestor with many organisms. There are 3 types of anatomical evidence: Homologous organs, Analogous organs, and vestigial organs. Homologous organs prove that from one ancestor to the descendants, the organisms perform the same function and have the same structure. Analogous organs perform similar functions, but they are from 2 completely different organisms who don't trace back to a common ancestor. Vestigial organs which are no longer in use may indicate common ancestry with other species which gives the thought that they can be related. Molecular evidence means that all life on earth shares a common genetic code: DNA! The more similar the code is, the more it is believed that the 2 organisms are related to one another.