Ecology: The Biosphere

1
Ecology The Biosphere

• Unit 2
• Chapters 3

2
Interactions Interdependence

• _____________ is the study of interactions among
  organisms and between organisms and their
  environment.
• Ecology was coined in 1866 by German biologist
  ___________________________
• Organisms and their environment are
  _______________________
• The biosphere contains the combined portions of
  the planet in which ______________________________
  ____________

3
Levels of Organization

• The study of ecology ranges from the study of an
  individual organism to populations, communities,
  ecosystems, biomes, and finally, to the entire
  biosphere.

4
Levels of Organization

• A ________________________ is a group of
  organisms so similar to one another that they can
  breed and produce fertile offspring
• ________________________ are groups of
  individuals that belong to the same species and
  live in the same area
• ________________________ are assemblages of
  different populations that live together in a
  defined area
• An ___________________ is a collection of all the
  organisms that live in a particular place,
  together with their nonliving environment
• A __________________ is a group of ecosystems
  that have the same climate and similar dominant
  communities
• The _________________ is the highest level of
  organization that ecologists study

5
Energy Flow

• The flow of energy through an ecosystem is one of
  the most important factors that determines
  ____________________________
• Without a constant input of energy, living
  systems cannot _________________
• ___________________ is the main energy source for
  life on Earth
• Some types of organisms rely on the energy stored
  in __________________ (non-living) chemical
  compounds to sustain life

6
Producers

• ________________ are organisms that can capture
  energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to
  produce its own food from inorganic compounds
• plants, some algae, and certain bacteria
• Because they make their own food, autotrophs are
  also called _______________

7
Energy From the Sun
8
Life Without Light
9
Consumers

• ________________, or _________________ are
  organisms that rely on other organisms for their
  energy and food supply
• Cannot harness energy directly from the physical
  environment
• Includes ________________________________

10
Feeding Relationships

• Energy flows through an ecosystem ______
• ______________________________, from the sun or
  inorganic compounds to autotrophs (producers) and
  then to various heterotrophs (consumers)
• The energy stored by producers can be passed
  through an ecosystem along a _______________

11
Food Chains

• A _____________________ is a series of steps in
  which organisms transfer energy by eating and
  being eaten

12
Food Webs

• When feeding relationships among the various
  organisms in an ecosystem form a network of
  complex interactions, the relationship in known
  as a _________________

13
Trophic Levels

• Each step in a food chain or web is called a
  ___________________________
• __________________ make up 1st trophic level
• __________________ make up 2nd, 3rd, and higher
  trophic levels
• Each consumer depends on ______________________
  for energy

14
Ecological Pyramids

• The amount of energy or matter in an ecosystem
  can be represented by an _________________________
  ________
• An _______________________ is a diagram that
  shows the relative amounts of energy or matter
  contained within each trophic level in a food
  chain or food web
• Energy pyramids
• Biomass pyramids
• Pyramids of numbers

15
Energy Pyramid
.1 3rd level consumers
1 2nd level consumers
Light or chemical energy
10 1st level consumers
100 producers
16
Biomass Pyramid
50 grams of lion tissue
500 grams of giraffe
1500 grams of greenery
17
Pyramid of Numbers
18
Cycles of Matter

• While energy is crucial to an ecosystem, all
  organisms need more than energy to survive
• Water
• Minerals
• Life-sustaining compounds
• For most organisms, more than 95 of the body is
  made up of ___________________
• These common elements cannot be used by
  organisms unless the elements are in _________
• _________________________________________

19
Recycling in the Biosphere

• Unlike the one-way flow of energy through an
  ecosystem, matter is __________________
• _____________________________________
• Elements, chemical compounds, and matter are
  passed from one organism to another and from one
  part of the biosphere to another through
  ____________________________
• Biogeochemical cycles pass the same molecules
  around again and again within the
  ___________________

20
The Water Cycle
Root uptake
21
Nutrient Cycles

• Nutrients are the bodys __________________
• Every living organism needs nutrients to grow and
  carry out essential life functions
• Nutrients, like water, are passed between
  organisms and the environment through
  __________________
• Because nutrients are in short supply in many
  ecosystems, _______________ of nutrients is
  essential for these ecosystems to keep
  _________________

22
The Carbon Cycle
23
The Nitrogen Cycle
24
The Phosphorus Cycle
25
Nutrient Limitation

• The ___________________ of an ecosystem is the
  rate at which organic matter is created by
  producers
• Factors that control the primary productivity of
  an ecosystem are the ________________________
• Nutrients in short supply will limit an
  organisms growth
• When an ecosystem is limited by a single nutrient
  that is scarce or cycles very slowly, this
  substance is called a _______________

26
Algal Blooms

• When an aquatic ecosystem receives a large input
  of a limiting nutrient, the result is often an
  immediate increase in the amount of algae other
  producers
• Leads to _________________________________