Copy the above diagram into your INB pg. .

1. Science Starter Copy the above diagram into your INB pg. .

2. Part 1: Organisms and their Relationships http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUY_-LK_lOc&list=TLXP87d-f1GlB457jXobYN1tWzkW7aRoZp Mr. Parr Ecosystems

3. Ecology is the study of the complex relationships between the biotic or living organisms in a particular area and their environment including the abiotic or nonliving elements in that area. • Examples of Abiotic elements include: • molecular elements-carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon • dioxide, etc. • water • rocks, sand, other inorganic components of soil • climate (air temperature, precipitation, etc) • These biotic and abiotic elements are part of a system- an • ecosystem.

4. Levels of Organization continued: Organism: a single living thing that obtains food, water, and shelter to live, grow, and reproduce in its habitat (environment). Ex: frog

5. Population: A group of interbreeding organisms (species) living in the same area Ex: All of the frogs living in a pond.

6. Community: all the populations in an ecosystem Ex: All the frogs, insects, birds, plants, mushrooms, protists, mammals, & fish living in the pond.

7. Ecosystem: A biological community and all of the abiotic factors that affect it. Ex: All the frogs, insects, birds, plants, mushrooms, protists, mammals, & fish along with water, soil, air, clouds, sunlight, and man-made materials in the pond.

8. Levels of Organization • Biome: A large group of ecosystems that share the same climate and have similar types of communities. • There are several major types of biomes such as a rainforest, desert, tundra, deciduous forest, taiga, marine, etc. • Biosphere: every place on Earth that can support life, all the biomes together

9. Ecology Terms • Species- organisms that are able to breed and produce living offspring. • Population- The actual number of a particular organism living in an area. • Carrying Capacity- The actual number of a particular organism that an area could support based on the availability of resources such as food, water, and shelter and the presence of predators. • Community-A term used to refer to all the organisms living in a particular area. If you refer to an area as a “wetlands community,” most ecologists would know what types of plants, animals, and other living organisms inhabit the area. • Interdependence- All living organisms in an ecosystem are dependent on the others. If you change one part of an ecosystem, the entire ecosystem will be affected. It will readjust until it has reached balance again.

10. Limiting Factors Limiting factors are things that prevent a population from growing any larger. For example, 10 rabbits may live in a habitat that has enough water, cover and space to support 20 rabbits, but if there is only enough food for ten rabbits, the population will not grow any larger. In this example, food is the limiting factor. Food is not the only factor that may limit population growth. For example, there may be enough food to support a thousand birds in a certain area, but only suitable nesting sites for one hundred. Or perhaps there is plenty of food, water, cover and space to support a larger population of pheasants in an area, but predators are the limiting factor. Limiting factors are very closely tied to carrying capacity. Many kinds of animals can increase in numbers very quickly, and may temporarily exceed the carrying capacity of their habitat. This results in stress, starvation, disease, predation and parasites, poor reproductive success and damage to the habitat. For example, multiplying muskrats can very quickly eat all the vegetation in a marsh. With the vegetation gone, food becomes the limiting factor and the muskrats may starve or move to another area. The marsh now has a reduced carrying capacity for muskrats until the vegetation grows back again.

11. Limiting Factors of Ecosystems • Can you list some? - Food - Water - Space -Mate - Weather

12. What is a niche? In a balanced ecosystem, every organism has a purpose, a role. This role is referred to as an organism’s niche. • What might the role of a plant be? Produce food, hold soil in place, provide shelter, and many other roles. • What niche does a honey bee fill? Important pollinator, source of food for other animals. • What niche does a mushroom fill? Breaks down organic material, source of food for certain animals.

13. Categories of Consumers: • Cooperative group activity- list at least 3 organisms in each category in 4 minutes. • What are examples of herbivores? • all plant eating or algae eating organisms • What are examples of carnivores? • Animals that only eat other animals. • What are examples of omnivores? • Any organisms that eats other animals and plants • What are examples of scavengers? • Vultures, condors, some catfish, hyenas • What are examples of decomposers? • Fungi (mushrooms, mold, mildew) slime molds; and most importantly BACTERIA.

14. There are three major types of interactions among organisms: • Competition: More than one organism uses a resource at the same time. • Predator -Prey: interaction where one organism (predator) kills another organism for food (prey) • Symbiosis: The close relationship that exists when two or more species live together. Niche competition Carnivore Mutualism

15. Symbiotic Relationships • Mutualism: When both organisms benefit • Lichens • Commensalism: One organism benefits, while the other is neither helped nor harmed. • Epiphytes (i.e., Bromeliads) • Parasitism: One organism benefits at the expense of the other. • Parasitoid wasp eggs on a tomato hornworm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRqEYroujqA&list=SP16EB9E5F60FAD9BD

16. Crocodile and Plover have a mutualistic relationship. The Plover cleans the Crocodile’s teeth.

17. commensalism One species benefits… …the other is unaffected. Maybe….

18. parasitism

19. Using pg. in your INB, draw and complete the table by using the graphics below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zLTwQklddc&list=PLDB484413202B3E2A Mr. Parr symbiosis

20. Abiotic/Biotic Producer/Consumer Heterotroph/Autotroph Carnivore/Herbivore/Omnivore Predator/Prey 1 3 2 Biotic Consumer Heterotroph Herbivore Prey Biotic Consumer Heterotroph Herbivore Prey Biotic Producer Autotroph 6 5 Abiotic Biotic Consumer Heterotroph Omnivore Usually predator. Also scavenger Aiotic 4

21. Abiotic/Biotic Producer/Consumer Heterotroph/Autotroph Carnivore/Herbivore/Omnivore Predator/Prey/Scavenger Biotic Consumer Heterotroph Herbivore Prey Biotic Consumer Heterotroph Herbivore Predator AND Prey Biotic Producer Autotroph CO2 & O2 Biotic Consumer Heterotroph Omnivore Predator, Prey, & Scavenger Biotic Consumer Heterotroph Carnivore Scavenger Aiotic

22. Cooperative group activity- list at least 3 relationships in each category in 4 minutes. • What are some examples of mutualistic relationships? • the algae and fungi that make lichen, algae in coral, bee and flower • What are some examples of commensalistic relationships? • Remora that hang on to sharks • What are some examples of parasitic relationships? • Flea, ticks on animals; leeches; ringworm; heartworm • What are some examples of competitive relationships? • Bass and bream compete for insects and minnows. • Lions and cheetah over gazelle. • What are some examples of predator-prey relationships? • Bass eating minnow; cheetah eating gazelle; hawk eating snake; • snake eating mouse http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/lessons/survival-of-the-fastest-predators-and-prey-on-the-african-savannah/video-segments/5662/ Cheetah vs. Gazelle

23. Part 2: Adaptations of Animals and Plants Adaptation=A characteristic, a behavior, or any inherited trait that makes a species able to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.

24. Vocabulary Camouflage- the ability of an organism to blend in to its natural environment. Coloration- the use of bright colors as warnings, for attracting mates, or for other specific purposes. Mimicry- the ability of one organism to look like another, generally with the purpose of protecting itself. For example, a non-poisonous king snake looks a lot like the very poisonous coral snake.

25. Jaguar Canebrake Rattlesnake Green Anole Lizard Camouflage Deer

29. Coloration

30. Mimicry- Fooled Ya! • King snake (not poisonous) Coral snake (VERY poisonous) If red touches yellow you’re a dead fellow If red touches black you’re a fine Jack

31. Mimicry • Similar colors • Similar DEFENSES Wasp/yellow jacket- no hair-keep stinging you Bee-hair on-some don’t sting others do.

32. Review Animals adapt to their environments in many ways and for many reasons. Many have camouflagecolors or body shapes to help them in hunting or hiding. Many have specialized body parts to help with protection or to get food. Some have specialized body coverings depending on where they live. Some can make their own poison to prevent other animals from wanting to eat them. Others use a poison known as “venom” to hunt and for protection. All these adaptations are to help the animal in one way or another tosurvive in the area that it lives in.

34. Part 3: Cycles in Nature http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_ru5UnrUTs&list=PLDB484413202B3E2A Mr Parr Cycles in Nature

35. Understanding the Transfer of Energy and Matter All living organisms must have energy to live. The original source of energy for all ecosystems is the sun. Autotrophsharness this energy enabling the energy to be transferred between the plants and other living organisms. The term matterrefers to the “stuff” things are made of. Most living organisms are made up of four primary elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. [CHON]. When you study physics next year, you will learn that there are special laws governing energy and matter. For the time being, we just need to understand that the earth is not creating any more carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, or nitrogen. These elements must be recycled so that they can be used over and over again.

36. The Carbon Cycle 1. Remember that carbon is removed from the atmosphere by autotrophs like plants and algae which need the CO2 for photosynthesis. That carbon is stored in the tissues of the plants and then in the tissues of the animals that eat them. Plants drop leaves or die as do all living things eventually. The carbon that is stored in their tissues eventually gets buried. Over millions of years, pressure and heat convert these remains into fossil fuels: coal and petroleum (from which gas and oil are derived.)

37. The ocean absorbs a great deal of CO2, but it also releases about the same amount back into the atmosphere.

38. 2. Carbon is returned to the atmospherein one of three ways: • Animal respiration (breathing out.) • Burning of fossil fuels(or any organic material such as wood or leaves.) • Decomposition, which produces either carbon dioxide (CO2) or methane gas (CH4).

39. Soil respiration If the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is greater than the concentration in the ocean, then CO2 molecules will spread out more into the ocean to balance the levels. If the concentration of CO2 is the same in the ocean as in the atmosphere, CO2 will diffuse into and out of the ocean at the same rate. This is a problem. The oceans do have their limits for how much CO2 they can absorb before damage begins to occur. If too much carbon dioxide dissolves into the ocean, the ocean becomes more acidic. An increase in acidity can lead to stress and eventually death for many organisms. Imagine what would happen if you poured pure lemon juice into your fish tank. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrIr3xDhQ0E

40. Many scientists now fear that humans are burning so much fossil fuel that we are flooding our atmosphere with more carbon dioxide than can the autotrophs can handle. CO2 traps heat in the atmosphere. These greenhouse gases are necessary to keep the earth from turning into a big block of ice, but too much in the atmosphere may result in dramatic global climate change as well.

41. Nitrogen Cycle • Remember that the air we breath is over 70% nitrogen, but neither animals nor plants can use nitrogen in its gaseous form. Nitrogen must first be converted into a form of nitrogen plants can use. This is done in three primary ways: • Intense volcanic activity or lightning. • The creation of urineby animals. • By nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil. 2. The converted nitrogen can them be absorbed into the plant tissue through the plants roots. Consumers get the nitrogen they need by eating the plants or other producers. 3. Another type of soil bacteria changes the unused converted nitrogen back into a gas enabling the atmosphere to be recharged with nitrogen.

43. Summary/Closing In what primary ways is carbon returned to the atmosphere? Animal exhalation, bacteria respiration, burning fossil fuels, volcanoes, released by the ocean. 2. In what primary ways is carbon removed from the atmosphere? Plants and algae through photosynthesis; absorbed by the ocean; becomes trapped in buried organic material which over time can become fossil fuels. 3. Most nitrogen on earth exists in the _________________ as a _____. 4. In what ways is nitrogen returned to the soil where it can be used by plants? Lightning; animal waste; converted from forms of nitrogen plants can’t use into forms of nitrogen they can use by different types of bacteria. 5. How is nitrogen returned to the atmosphere? Other bacteria convert forms of nitrogen in the soil back into nitrogen gas. atmosphere gas

44. What about energy? Is energy “recycled” like elements? The original source of energy for every system, remember, is the sun. The sun produces vast amounts of energy Producers are able to harness some of this energy to make food through photosynthesis. Consumers in turn get some of this energy from the things they eat (or decompose.) The problem is, the transfer of energy from one organism to another is very inefficient. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf3inHpNXlM&list=PLDB484413202B3E2A Mr. Parr Energy Roles

45. What is happening to the other 90% of the energy as it passes from one level to the next?

46. Tertiary Consumers-Top of the food chain. Only about 10% of the energy makes it from one trophic level to the next one above it. Secondary Consumers- Carnivores or Omnivores Primary Consumers- Herbivores Producers- Plants, algae, cyanobacteria

47. This energy loss is represented as a pyramid. As you move up trophic levels, the amount of energy available decreases. Trophic levels represent a feeding step in the transfer of energy and matter in an ecosystem. That is why you will always have fewer organisms as you move up the food web. Remember than only 10% of the energy is passed on from one trophic level to the next. The rest is lost as heat.

48. How many units would be available at this trophic level? 1 How many units would be available at this trophic level? 10 How many units would be available at this trophic level? 100 How many units would be available at this trophic level? 1000 10,000 units What does this diagram represent? That energy is lost as it moves up each trophic level in a food web, most of it as heat.

49. ? ? ?

50. ? ? ? What is happening to the amount of available energy as it moves UP a food chain? It is decreasing by 90% as it passes each level.