Environmental Systems

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Environmental Systems

• Chapter 7

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Identifying and Managing Ecosystems

• Varying in size, structure. One may transition
  into another.
• Watershed Used to define an ecosystem. Within
  this area, any drop of water that hits the ground
  will run into the same stream.
• Can be Natural or Artificial (or combo of both).
• Ex manmade ponds, agriculture, wildlife
  preserves

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Components of an Ecosystem

• Structure
• Living (biotic)ecological community. Species
  interacting within ecosystem.
• Non-living (abiotic)local atmosphere, water,
  mineral soil
• Processes Chemical cycles and energy flow
• Change developments over time, known as
  succession

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Communities Food Webs

• Trophic Levels how far an organism is away from
  the original source of energy (ie. The Sun).
  Varies by organism and situation.
• Autotrophs/Producers make own food from CO2 and
  energy. Green plants, algae, some bacteria
• Herbivores/Primary Consumers feed on autotrophs
• Carnivores Feed on herbivores or other
  carnivores. (3rd level or higher)
• Omnivores eat both plants and animals

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The final phase

• Detritivores Ingest and break down organic
  matter internally
• Worms
• Scavengers
• Decomposers break down organic matter externally
• Bacteria, fungi, mushrooms

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A Food Web
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Your Food Web

• Identify your 3 favorite foods at Thanksgiving.
• List those with their main ingredients.
• Diagram a food web with yourself in the center.

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The Newest Fad Cat Skin Coats!

• Lets start a cat ranch!

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Heres the Deal

• We will need 5000 breeding pairs of cats to get a
  sustainable harvest of pelts
• To feed the cats, well start a rat ranch next
  door. Since rats reproduce faster, well only
  need 1000 pairs.

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Heres the payoff

• We feed the rats to the cats.
• Then we feed the cat carcasses to the rats.
• We get to sell the pelts and make money!

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• Whats ecologically wrong with this idea?

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Biological Productivity and Energy Flow

• Energy allows matter to be converted into
  Biomassorganic matter in an individual or
  species and any of its products.
• Biomass is increased through biological
  production (growth).
• Net production change in biomass over time.

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Biological Production

• Primary Production creation of organic compounds
  from energy and inorganic compounds by
  autotrophs.
• Through photosynthesis (mostly) or chemosynthesis

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• Secondary Production
• Heterotrophs produce energy and store biomass
  through respiration

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• Gross Primary Production (GPP)
• Energy that results when autotrophs capture
  sunlight store it as chemical energy (sugar)
• Net Primary Production (NPP)
• Energy leftover from GPP once the organism has
  used enough for its own maintenance (growth
  repair) through respiration.
• Energy or biomass available to heterotrophs

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Global oceanic and terrestrial photoautotroph
abundance, from September 1997 to August 2000. As
an estimate of autotroph biomass, it is only a
rough indicator of primary production potential,
and not an actual estimate of it. Provided by the
SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
and ORBIMAGE.
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• NPP GPP Respiration
• Change in Biomass
• Production of Biomass before use - Biomass Used

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Energy

• Measured in Calories (kcal or C) or kilojoules
  (kJ)
• Calorie (C, kcal) energy needed to raise 1 kg
  water 1o Celsius
• Joule energy needed to move 1 kg up 1 m
• 1 kJ 0.24 kcal (C)

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Energy Flow Pyramid
Tertiary Consumers ex human
10 kcal
100 kcal
Secondary Consumers ex shark
1,000 kcal
Primary Consumers ex fish
10,000 kcal usable energy at each trophic level
Producers ex algae
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• Approximately 90 loss of usable energy with
  transfer to next trophic level. Energy lost as
  heat to the environment.
• Each level has 10 of the energy of the previous
  level
• Same w/number of individuals or biomass

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Energy Usage

• Cattle 16 lbs of vegetable matter is needed for
  every 1 lb of edible meat.
• Chickens 3 lbs of vegetable matter for every 1
  lb of meat or eggs.
• Environmentally, where on the food chain is it
  better to eat?

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Three hundred trout are needed to support one
man for a year.  The trout, in turn, must consume
90,000 frogs, that must consume 27 million 
grasshoppers that live off of 1,000 tons of
grass.  -- G. Tyler Miller, Jr., American
Chemist (1971)
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Whats the Earth Made of?

• Lithosphere made of rock
• Rock aggregates of minerals
• Minerals specific chemical composition

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The Rock Cycle
Metamorphic
Melting
Greater Pressure Temperature
Weathering Erosion
Heat Pressure
Heated Melted
Igneous
Sedimentary
Weathering Erosion, transportation deposition
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The Rock Cycle
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Formation of Minerals Rocks

• Igneous
• Magma cools, heavier minerals crystallize and
  sink, lighter ones at top. Circulating
  groundwater may dissolve, move and deposit
  minerals.

Basalt
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• Sedimentary
• -Sediment is moved by wind, water, glaciers.
  Moved according to size, density.
• -Includes Biological Formations from bones
  shells

Chalk Formations
Shale
Sandstone
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• Metamorphic
• Sedimentary rock that has been buried 10s-100s of
  kilometers for long periods of time. Transported
  back to surface through plate tectonics.

Schist
Gneiss
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Sedimentary Rock Sandstone
Sedimentary Rock Shale
Metamorphic Rock Schist
Metamorphic Rock Gneiss
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White Cliffs of Dover, EnglandSedimentary Rock
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Weathering

• Physical/Mechanical freezing/thawing, glacier
  movement, wind erosion
• Chemical dissolved by weak acids, acid rain