1 / 15

Ecosystems Unit Activity 3.1 Carbon Pools

Ecosystems Unit Activity 3.1 Carbon Pools. Carbon: Transformations in Matter and Energy Environmental Literacy Project Michigan State University. Unit map. You are here. Introduction. In Lesson 1 you identified key features of ecosystems including: Organic versus inorganic carbon

sholbrook
Download Presentation

Ecosystems Unit Activity 3.1 Carbon Pools

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Ecosystems UnitActivity 3.1 Carbon Pools Carbon: Transformations in Matter and Energy Environmental Literacy ProjectMichigan State University

  2. Unit map You are here

  3. Introduction • In Lesson 1 you identified key features of ecosystems including: • Organic versus inorganic carbon • Groups of organisms that have similar roles (producers, herbivores, carnivores, decomposers) • Now we will put these ideas together to learn about how scientists keep track of carbon in ecosystems

  4. Scientists group parts of ecosystems into “pools” of carbon

  5. Carnivores organic carbon Atmosphere CO2 Herbivores organic carbon Producers organic carbon Soil Organic Carbon

  6. Carnivores Organic Carbon Herbivores Organic Carbon Atmosphere CO2 Soil Organic Carbon Producers Organic Carbon

  7. New Information Alert: What is soil organic carbon? • It is a pool of carbon that contains: • Material from dead plants and animals waiting to decay (be eaten by decomposers) AND • Living decomposers.

  8. Plants use food in two ways Materialsfor growth:Biosynthesis Food To Cells Energy:Cellular respiration

  9. Animals use food in two ways Materialsfor growth:Biosynthesis Food Digestion Energy:Cellular respiration

  10. What happens to food that animals can’t digest? Our digestive systems cannot break down some large organic molecules (such as fiber). These molecules leave our bodies as feces.

  11. Decomposers use food in two ways Materialsfor growth:Biosynthesis Food Digestion Energy:Cellular respiration

  12. The organic pools and inorganic pools are connected through biological processes • Photosynthesis – transforms CO2 to organic carbon • Biosynthesis & Digestion – rearrange organic carbon molecules into other organic carbon molecules • Feces & death – moves organic carbon to the soil pool • Cellular respiration – transforms organic carbon into inorganic carbon (CO2 in the air)

  13. Scale Just like in previous Carbon TIME Units we will be tracing matter and energy in the Ecosystems Unit. Now we will focus on tracing matter and energy across much larger scales. Therefore, the Four Questions that we are trying to answer are slightly different.

  14. Large Scale Four Questions

  15. How are pools and the biomass pyramid related? Carnivores organic carbon Atmosphere CO2 Herbivores organic carbon Producers organic carbon Soil Organic Carbon

More Related