### Understanding Ecosystems: Interactions of Living and Nonliving Components ###

1. Ecology Review Living things do not live in vacuums, their daily lives are based on _______________ with both living and nonliving things. What is an ecosystem? Groups of organisms and their ____________ ________________________ What is the Biosphere? All _____________________are connected in a biosphere

2. Ecology Terms Organism living thing Population groups of ____________ Communitygroup of _____________ Ecosystemgroup of _____________ Biome Group of ________________ Biosphere Group of _____________

3. There are two main components of an ecosystem: ________(living) & ________(nonliving) Populations of Inorganic nutrients, organisms. physical features, water, temperature, and wind.

4. Biotic Components: A Closer Look ______________are producers that produce food for themselves and for consumers. How do autotrophs make food? _____________ and chemosynthesis ____________are consumers that take in premade food.

5. Biotic components

6. Consumers Vocabulary: Herbivores – animals that eat __________ Carnivores – animals that eat ___________ Omnivores – animals that eat ________ and ______________ Decomposers - bacteria and fungi, that ________________dead organic waste. Detritus- partially ______________organic matter in the soil and water; beetles, earthworms, and termites are detritus _____________.

7. Consumers

8. Consumer Levels Primary consumer – anorganism that gets its energy from ______(producers) Secondary consumer – anorganism that gets its energy from ________________ Tertiary consumer – carnivores that eat other carnivores; a _________consumer, usually the top predator in the food chain

9. Biotic Interactions Organisms occupy a specific role, or ________, in an environment • Competition  fig_____________________or species for food/habitat/mate • Predation  action where a hunter _________________ • Symbiosis  situation where 2 organisms interact with each other and ________________from this interaction

10. Energy Flow • What is energy flow? • The _________________through the organisms in an ecosystem • What direction does energy flow through an ecosystem? • Sun  Producers  Various levels of __________________

11. As energy flows from autotrophs (producers) to heterotrophs (consumers) much of the energy is lost before the consumer can use it. • In what forms is energy lost? • ___________________ • Initial energy from an ecosystem comes from a consistent supply of solar energy • **Remember energy in an ecosystem may be transferred or converted but will not be __________________________**

12. Energy balances

13. Nature of an ecosystem

14. Food chains vs. food webs • What is a food chain? • A diagram that links organisms together by who eats whom • Starts with ________________________________. • Most food chains have no more than ____________ • Arrows show the direction energy is flowing • EXAMPLE: tree  giraffe  lion

15. Food chain

16. Most consumers feed on and are eaten by more than one other consumer • What is a food web? • A combination of several food chains showing all of the ____________________________ • What is a trophic level? • All of the organisms that feed at a _______________________of the food chain/web

17. Grazing food web – The upper portion of a food web based on a ______________________________ Detrital food web – The lower portion of a food web based on __________________

18. Forest food webs

19. Ecological Pyramids • Why are food chains so short? • Only about __________of energy is useable from one trophic level to the next • The number organisms drastically decreases as you go up in level of a food chain • What is an ecological pyramid? • A series of _________ representing the biomass of particular organisms on a particular trophic level • What is biomass? • The amount of ___________________in the population of an organism

20. Ecological pyramid

21. Biochemical cycles • What are biochemical cycles? • The path by which important nutrients/molecules travel through an ecosystem. • 3 Important Cycles: • Water Cycle • Carbon Cycle • Nitrogen Cycle

22. The Water Cycle • Water movement: • Land  Atmosphere: • _________________ • _________________from rivers, lakes and oceans • ______________________ from plants • Atmosphere  Land • _____________________ • ________________ over land and bodies of water • Runoff forms bodies of water (lakes, rivers, oceans) • Ground water seepage into aquifers

23. The water cycle

24. The Carbon Cycle • Carbon Movement: • Land/Water  Atmosphere • _________________ • _________________ • Atmosphere Land/Water • ___________________ • ________________ • ** Carbon is stored as _fossil fuels__ from decaying organisms.**

25. The carbon cycle

26. The Nitrogen Cycle • Nitrogen Movement: • Nitrogen Fixation  ___________ found in legume roots converts ______________________ • Decomposers break down waste and organic remains into __________________ • Nitrification  bacteria convert ____________into Nitrite (NO2) and Nitrate (NO3) to be used by plants • Denitrification  Bacteria converts ammonia back into _________________________

27. The nitrogen cycle

28. The Phosphorus Cycle The phosphorus cycle is a sedimentary cycle. Only __________________are made available to plants by the weathering of sedimentary rocks; phosphorus is a limiting inorganic nutrient. The biotic community recycles phosphorus back to the ______________, temporarily incorporating it into ATP, nucleotides, teeth, bone and shells, and then returning it to the ecosystem via __________________.

29. The phosphorus cycle

30. Changes to Ecosystems • Air Pollution  Burning of _________releases CO2, SO2, and NO2,NO3 into atmosphere. Results in climate change, acid rain, damage to ozone layer

31. Habitat Destruction • Over past 50 years, __________of tropical forests have been cleared for timber or farmland (deforestation) • Loss of habitat often means ___________for organisms within that habitat

32. Invasive Species • Introduction of species to new habitats, usually by humans