Van Au 12-1

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Ecology

• Van Au 12-1
• Melissa Lee 12-2
• Victoria Robinson 12-3
• Jonathan Tieu 12-4

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Ecology is

• the study of the relations of organisms and their
  interaction with their environment or
  physical surroundings.

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Levels of Organization

• Population- a group of interacting organisms of
  the same species and area
• Species- groups of organisms that resemble one
  another in appearance, behavior, chemistry, and
  genetic makeup
• Organism- any form of life

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Levels of Organization contd

• Biosphere- the sum of all organisms and their
  environments
• Ecosystem- a biological community of organisms
  interacting with their environment
• Communities- a group of different species and
  populations inhabiting a specific area

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Biosphere (4 layers)
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Lithosphere (land)

• Crust and upper mantle
• Fossil fuels, minerals, nutrients

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Hydrosphere (H2O)

• Solid
• Ice, permafrost
• Liquid
• Liquid water
• Gas
• Water vapor

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Atmosphere (air)

• Troposphere
• 78 nitrogen, 21 oxygen
• Stratosphere
• Ozone
• Absorbs UV rays

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Energy Flow

• Energy flow in an ecosystem
• Energy is lost in food chains and webs
• the 2nd law of thermodynamics
• there is a decrease in the amount of energy
  available to each succeeding organization in a
  food chain or web.

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vores

• Herbivores- organisms that mainly eat plants
• Carnivores- organisms that mainly eat meat
• Omnivores- organisms that primarily eat both
  plants and meat
• Detritivores- organisms that get their nutrients
  from dead animals and plants and their waste

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Can you guess which organism belongs to each
category?

• Which is the
• Herbivore?
• Carnivore?
• Omnivore?
• Detritivore?

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Trophic Levels

• Producers/Autotrophs make their food from
  inorganic compounds using photosynthesis or
  chemosynthesis.
• Consumers/Heterotrophs get their nutrients from
  eating other organisms.
• Primary consumers eat producers.
• Secondary and tertiary consumers eat other
  consumers.
• Decomposers eat decaying plant and animal matter
  as well as waste.

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Food Webs

• Trophic levels are interconnected. Within a more
  connected food web.

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Water, Carbon, and Nitrogen Cycles

• Three of the most important cycles we learned
  about this semester were
• The Water Cycle
• The Carbon Cycle
• The Nitrogen Cycle

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Can you guess the steps of the water cycle, APES
kids?
?
?
?
?
?
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The Water Cycle

• Condensation- the change from water vapor to
  liquid
• Precipitation
• rain, sleet, snow, hail
• Infiltration
• The movement of water through soil.
• Runoff is the flow of water over land into bodies
  of water
• Evaporation- when water changes phases, from
  liquid to gas/vapor.
• Transpiration- the process in which water vapor
  is given off by plants

The answer.
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The Carbon Cycle

• The process by which carbon is absorbed through
  photosynthesis and released back into the air by
  cellular respiration.
• 6CO2 6H2O ( light energy) C6H12O6 6O2

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The Nitrogen Cycle

• Cycle in which nitrogen converts to its various
  chemical forms.
• The nitrogen cycle consists of several major
  steps nitrogen fixation, nitrification,
  ammonification, and denitrification.

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The Nitrogen Cycle contd

• Nitrogen fixation- bacteria in soil and aquatic
  environments convert gaseous nitrogen to ammonia,
  then is converted to ammonium ions to be used by
  plants.
• Nitrification- two step process in which bacteria
  in soil convert NH3 and NH4 first to nitrite
  ions and secondly to nitrate ions, which are
  absorbed by the roots of plants.

• Ammonification, decomposer bacteria convert
  organic material into simpler nitrogen-containing
  inorganic compounds such as ammonia and water
  soluble salts containing ammonium salts.
• Denitrification- nitrogen removed from the soil
  by chemical reduction.

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Thats All, Study Hard!