Ecosystems

1
Ecosystems
2
Plant Anatomy

• Roots - anchor the plant and absorb water and
  nutrients some store food (carrot, potato)
• Stem - transportation highway for water and
  nutrients in vascular plants gives structure
• Leaf - food producing part of the plant absorbs
  sunlight
• Flower - reproduction

3
Adaptations - characteristic or trait that helps
an organism survive in its environment.
4
Plant Adaptations

• Thick, waxy stems for storing water in a dry
  climate (cactus)
• Shallow roots for absorbing water quickly in a
  dry, arid location
• Broad leaves absorb maximum amount of sunlight in
  a poorly lit areas
• Needles on evergreens conserve water
• Tendrils on vines climb toward sunlight
• Thorns protect from predators

5
Physical Animal Adaptations

• Claws or talons to grasp prey
• Strong jaw or beak to grasp tear prey
• Monocular vision in prey (typically herbivores)
  to watch for predators
• Binocular vision in secondary consumers to find
  prey
• Molting to change colors with the season, ex.
  ptarmigan bird
• Small ears in a cold climate, lose less body heat
• Mimicry in the Monarch and Viceroy butterflies
  walking stick

6
Behavioral Animal Adaptations (instinct)

• Hibernationbody functions slow in the winter for
  survival
• Ex. skunks, bears, ground squirrels, bats

7

• Migration movement to a different location
  during winter to avoid colder climate and locate
  plentiful food source
• Butterflies
• Whales
• Birds

8
Food Chain

• Shows how each living thing gets food.
• No more than 4 or 5 links
• Less energy the higher up you go

9
Food Web

• Interconnected food chains

10
Food Chains Webs

• Energy flow in an ecosystem
• Arrow points to where the animal is getting its
  energy
• Niche-role or job the organism plays
• Producer
• Primary Consumer
• Secondary Consumer
• Decomposer

11
Producers

• Plantsthey are able to use light energy to make
  their food from carbon dioxide and water

12
Consumers

• Herbivore(primary consumer)
• Carnivore(secondary consumer)
• Omnivore(depends on what they eat)

13
Herbivore
14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)
17
Basic
18
A Little Complex
19
Very Complex
20

• Food Chain
• Grass
• Grasshopper
• Mouse
• Snake
• Hawk
• Mushrooms

21
Energy Pyramid

• Energy is lost as it is transferred from organism
  to organism
• Introducing an alien
• species can create an
• imbalance in the
• habitat too much
• competition
• for resources

22
Succession

• Substantial change to an ecosystem through the
  activities of humans, other living things, or
  when natural disasters such as climate changes
  and volcanic eruptions. The gradual long term
  changes in altered ecosystems are called
  ecological successions. Ecosystems tend to
  change with time until a stable system is formed.
  
• Pioneer organisms that are found first in a
  recovering or newly developing ecosystem can
  include plants such as grasses.
• Climax community is achieved when there is a
  stable community, typically full grown trees are
  an example.

23

• Primary Succession includes
• - Bare rock erodes, sand accumulates,
  decomposition adds organic matter, and soil
  continues to form. Pioneer species of plants do
  establish themselves, beginning the course of
  succession
• Follows volcanic eruption
• Other examples include glaciers and glacial
  retreat
• Secondary succession is the reconstruction of an
  ecosystem following a disturbance that damages or
  removes all or part of the previous community,
  but leaves the SOIL intact.
• - Faster than primary succession.
• - Succession results in the transition of the
  original pioneer species to climax community.
• - Examples include floods, tornadoes, prescribed
  fires, plowing

24
A summary of changes that occur during succession

• Pioneer species colonize first. (Seeds travel by
  wind, water ice.)
• Newly arriving species alter the conditions.
• New species of plants displace existing plants.
• Animals come in with or after the plants they
  need to survive.
• With infrequent disturbance a climax community
  will become established.
• Disturbances start the process of succession