Impact of Environmental Change on Ecosystem Stability

1. The student is expected to:12F describe how environmental change can impact ecosystem stability

2. KEY CONCEPT Every ecosystem includes both living and nonliving factors.

3. plants An ecosystem includes both biotic and abiotic factors. • Biotic factors are living things. • plants • animals • fungi • bacteria

4. sunlight moisture • moisture • temperature • wind • sunlight • soil • Abiotic factors are nonliving things.

5. Changing one factor in an ecosystem can affect many other factors. • Biodiversity is the assortment, or variety, of living things in an ecosystem. • Rain forests have more biodiversity than other locations in the world, but are threatened by human activities.

6. keystone • A keystone species is a species that has an unusually large effect on its ecosystem.

7. creation of wetland ecosystem increased waterfowl Population keystone species increased fish population nesting sites for birds • Keystone species form and maintain a complex web of life.

8. The student is expected to:11C summarize the role ofmicroorganisms in both maintaining and disrupting the health of both organisms and ecosystems and 12C analyze the flow of matter andenergy through trophic levels using various models, including food chains, food webs, and ecological pyramids

9. KEY CONCEPT Life in an ecosystem requires a source of energy.

10. Producers provide energy for other organisms in an ecosystem. • Producers get their energy from non-living resources. • Producers are also called autotrophs because they make their own food.

11. Producers provide energy for other organisms in an ecosystem. • Consumers are organisms that get their energy by eating other living or once-living resources. • Consumers are also called heterotrophs because they feed off of different things.

12. carbon dioxide + water + hydrogen sulfide + oxygen sugar + sulfuric acid Almost all producers obtain energy from sunlight. • Photosynthesis in most producers uses sunlight as an energy source. • Chemosynthesis in prokaryote producers uses chemicals as an energy source.

13. The student is expected to:11C summarize the role of microorganisms in both maintaining and disrupting the health of both organisms and ecosystemsand 12Canalyzethe flow of matter and energythroughtrophiclevelsusingvariousmodels, includingfoodchains, food webs, and ecologicalpyramids

14. KEY CONCEPT Food chains and food webs model the flow of energy in an ecosystem.

15. A food chain links species by their feeding relationships. A food chain follows the connection between one producer and a single chain of consumers within an ecosystem. GRAMA GRASS DESERT COTTONTAIL HARRIS’S HAWK A food chain is a model that shows a sequence of feeding relationships.

16. Consumers are not all alike. carnivore decomposer • Herbivores eat only plants. • Carnivores eat only animals. • Omnivores eat both plants and animals. • Detritivores eat dead organic matter. • Decomposers are detritivores that break down organic matter into simpler compounds.

17. Specialists are consumers that primarily eat one specific organism or a very small number of organisms. • Generalists are consumers that have a varying diet.

18. Trophic levels are the nourishment levels in a food chain. • Primary consumers are herbivores that eat producers. • Secondary consumers are carnivores that eat herbivores. • Tertiary consumers are carnivores that eat secondary consumers. • Omnivores, such as humans that eat both plants and animals, may be listed at different trophic levels in different food chains.

19. An organism may have multiple feeding relationships in an ecosystem. A food web emphasizes complicated feeding relationships and energy flow in an ecosystem. A food web shows a complex network of feeding relationships.

20. The student is expected to:11C summarize the role ofmicroorganisms in both maintainingand disrupting the health of bothorganisms and ecosystems and12E describe the flow of matterthrough the carbon and nitrogencycles and explain the consequencesof disrupting these cycles

21. KEY CONCEPT Matter cycles in and out of an ecosystem.

22. precipitation condensation transpiration evaporation surface runoff lake water storage in ocean groundwater seepage Water cycles through the environment. • The hydrologic, or water, cycle is the circular pathway of water on Earth. • Organisms all have bodies made mostly of water.

23. Elements essential for life also cycle through ecosystems. • A biogeochemical cycle is the movement of a particular chemical through the biological and geological parts of an ecosystem. • The main processes involved in the oxygen cycle are photosynthesis and respiration.

24. oxygen photosynthesis respiration carbon dioxide • Oxygen cycles indirectly through an ecosystem by the cycling of other nutrients.

25. carbon dioxide in air respiration combustion photosynthesis respiration photosynthesis decomposition of organisms carbon dioxide dissolved in water fossil fuels • The carbon cycle moves carbon from the atmosphere, through the food web, and back to the atmosphere. • Carbon is emitted during the burning of fossil fuels. • Some carbon is stored for long periods of time in areas called carbon sinks. • Carbon is the building block of life.

26. nitrogen in atmosphere animals plant nitrates nitrogen-fixing bacteria in roots decomposers nitrifying bacteria ammonification nitrites nitrogen-fixing bacteria in soil ammonium nitrifying bacteria denitrifying bacteria • Some bacteria convert gaseous nitrogen into ammonia through a process called nitrogen fixation. • Some nitrogen-fixing bacteria live innodules on theroots of plants;others livefreely insoil. • The nitrogen cycle mostly takes place underground.

27. nitrogen in atmosphere animals plant nitrates nitrogen-fixing bacteria in roots decomposers nitrifying bacteria ammonification nitrites nitrogen-fixing bacteria in soil ammonium nitrifying bacteria denitrifying bacteria • Nitrifying bacteria change the ammonium into nitrate. • Nitrogen moves through the foodweb and returnsto the soil duringdecomposition. • Ammonia released into the soil is transformed into ammonium.

28. rain geologic uplifting weathering of phosphate from rocks runoff plants animals phosphate in soil phosphate in solution leaching sedimentation forms new rocks decomposers • Phosphate is released by the weathering of rocks. • Phosphorus moves through the food web and returns to the soil duringdecomposition. • The phosphorus cycle takes place at and below ground level. • Phosphorus leaches into groundwater from the soil and is locked in sediments. • Both mining and agriculture add phosphorus into the environment.

29. Natural and human activities can disrupt biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems. • Natural disruptions • volcanic eruptions • forest fires • landslides and earthquakes • living organisms

30. Disruptions caused by humans • poor farming practices • burning fossil fuels

31. The student is expected to:12C analyze the flow ofmatter and energy through trophiclevels using various models,including food chains, food webs,and ecological pyramids

32. KEY CONCEPT Pyramids model the distribution of energy and matter in an ecosystem.

33. energy lost energy transferred An energy pyramid shows the distribution of energy among trophic levels. • Energy pyramids compare energy used by producers and other organisms on trophic levels. • Between each tier of an energy pyramid, up to 90 percent of the energy is lost into the atmosphere as heat. • Only 10 percent of the energy at each tier is transferred from one trophic level to the next.

34. tertiary consumers 75 g/m2 150g/m2 secondary consumers primary consumers 675g/m2 2000g/m2 2000g/m2 producers producers Other pyramid models illustrate an ecosystem’s biomass and distribution of organisms. • Biomass is a measure of the total dry mass of organisms in a given area.

35. 5 tertiary consumers secondary consumers 5000 primary consumers 500,000 producers 5,000,000 producers 5,000,000 • A pyramid of numbers shows the numbers of individual organisms at each trophic level in an ecosystem. • A vast number of producers are required to support even a few top level consumers.