Understanding Ecosystems: The Key Players and Cycles

1. Honors Biology Module 10 Ecology Part 2 January 21, 2016

2. Class Challenge The Best Cookies

3. Next Week Class Challenge: The Best Joke

4. Quiz 17 Handout: Pass out Energy Pyramid worksheet / quiz Name: January 21, 2016

5. Matching • Population C. Ecosystem • Community D. Biome • ____ An association of living organisms and their physical environment. • ____ A group of interbreeding organisms coexisting together. • ____ A group of ecosystems classified by climate and plant life. • ____ A group of populations living and interacting in the same area.

6. Food Web

7. Population C. Ecosystem • Community D. Biome • _C__ An association of living organisms and their physical environment. • _A__ A group of interbreeding organisms coexisting together. • _D__ A group of ecosystems classified by climate and plant life. • _B__ A group of populations living and interacting in the same area.

8. LS2B - Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer http://youtu.be/x37DJLcJ0dI

9. Ecosystems and the Physical Environment We have studied the associations between organisms. • Feeding habits • Reproduction and population growth • Mutualistic symbiosis

10. Ecosystems also include The physical environment to include nonliving things. • Weather • Temperature • Chemicals in the ecosystem • Gases organisms breath • Availability of water

11. Biosphere: know these terms Atmosphere: (air) Hydrosphere: (water) Lithosphere: (earth)

12. Physical environment changes dramatically from place to place around the earth. Examples of ecosystems?

13. Tropical Rainforest  Temperate Forest Taiga Ecosystems Grassland Ecosystems Desert Ecosystems Tundra Ecosystems Stillwater Ecosystems River and Stream Ecosystems Littoral Zones Coral Reefs

14. An example of ecological diversity on a global scale would be the variation in ecosystems, such as deserts, forests, grasslands, wetlands and oceans. Ecological diversity is the largest scale of biodiversity, and within each ecosystem, there is a great deal of both species and genetic diversity.

15. An ecosystem is comprised of all the non-living elements and living species in a specific local environment. Components of most ecosystems include water, air, sunlight, soil, plants, microorganisms, insects and animals. Ecosystems may be terrestrial -- that is, on land -- or aquatic. Sizes of ecosystems vary; they could entail a small puddle or an enormous swath of desert. Likewise, natural ecosystems can look quite different from one another.

16. Once you define an Ecosystem… you can begin to look at the physical environment: • Water • Oxygen • Carbon • Nitrogen These 4 cycles will make up our lab today and your quiz next week.

17. The Water Cycle All organisms on earth need water to live. It is important to know where water comes from and where it goes to in an ecosystem. Figure 10.7 Shows the Water Cycle at the Ocean’s Shore

18. Water evaporates from the ocean and travels into the air where it eventually forms clouds. Clouds are simply water droplets (or tiny ice crystals) suspended on fine dust particles in the air. The clouds eventually form precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, etc.) which brings the water back to the ocean. More water evaporates from the ocean than what falls back into the ocean as precipitation. But more happens so that the oceans do not run dry.

19. The water vapor that evaporates from the oceans forms clouds that travel through the air. If they travel far enough, those clouds can cause precipitation that falls on the land.

20. When the precipitation falls on the land, two things happen: 1. It can evaporate from the land, going back into the air again. Plants absorb the water from their roots. Large amounts of the water end up back in the air, because water actually evaporates from the leaves of plants. This is called Transpiration.

21. Transpiration Evaporation of water from the leaves of plants. This is important because it allows water that was on land to end up back in the air.

22. The excess water trickles back into the sea (or rivers) as surface runoff. Most of the evaporation in the ecosystem comes from the ocean, excess water from land replenishes the water in the ocean.

23. The Water Cycle Does more than make sure that the water stays where it should be in an ecosystem. Transports nutrients from one part of an ecosystem to another (from lithosphere [land] to the hydrosphere [water]). These nutrients are the result of decomposers feeding off dead creatures and minerals that were held in the soil or sand. Organisms in the ocean use these nutrients.

24. Watershed (Figure 10.8) Is an ecosystem where all water runoff drains into a single body of water. Water comes into a watershed through precipitation. It leaves by: • Through transpiration • Evaporation • Stream flow

25. Watersheds The water can flow over the lithosphere as surface runoff. The water can be absorbed by the lithosphere and become part of the groundwater, which is water that flows beneath the surface of the land. That groundwater eventually flows along the base of the soil until it reaches the stream. Water is absorbed by roots of plants, which means it will eventually leave the watershed through transpiration.

26. Watersheds Are very important to ecosystems because they distribute nutrients throughout the earth. As water travels through a watershed plants moderate the amount of nutrients carried away by the river, as they limit the amount of soil that can be pulled into the river by surface runoff or groundwater flow. Without these plants, too many nutrients would flow into the water, causing algal blooms that could destroy the water ecosystem.

27. Watersheds Elements that affect runoff and groundwater flow harming the ecosystem: • Deforestation • Fertilizers • Pesticides • Dog feces

28. Oxygen Cycle Most organisms need oxygen to survive. (Aerobic) There are some organisms that can exist without oxygen. Researchers have discovered small animals that live their entire lives without oxygen and surrounded by 'poisonous' sulphides, deep under the Mediterranean Sea.

29. Less than ¼ of the air we breathe is oxygen. The air we breathe is about 21% oxygen. The rest of what we breathe is made up of nitrogen, and a small part of several other gases including argon, carbon dioxide, and ozone. This is an ideal combination for supporting life.

30. The Oxygen Cycle The used oxygen is continually being replaced by new oxygen. If it was not, it would drop below the 21% needed. Oxygen is used up in many different ways (see figure 10.9 – blue highlights pointing downward)

31. The thicker arrow, the more oxygen that is used up in the process. Aerobic organisms (both aquatic and land-based) use up oxygen as part of their respiration.

32. Even though oxygen is being used up by all of these processes (see Fig 10.9) the amount of oxygen in the air does not diminish, because there are also processes by which oxygen is restored. (see the Lavender arrows)

33. What is the major sources of Oxygen? Photosynthesis is plants and phytoplankton. All organisms require carbon dioxide and water as well as energy from the sun. The amount of water in the air is regulated from the Water cycle. The cycles that we are discussing are not isolated, rather each are work together to regulate the physical environment of the ecosystems.

34. The Carbon Cycle The chemistry of life is built on the chemical element of carbon. Carbon makes up a living organisms body. It will be converted to carbon dioxide by decomposers after the organism dies. When an organism eats food (either from producers or consumers), the carbon in that food is eventually converted to carbon dioxide by respiration. This cycle regulates the amount of carbon in the ecosystem, keeping careful track of carbon dioxide. (see Figure 10.10) Observing where carbon dioxide goes to and comes from in an ecosystem, we are actually tracking most of the carbon in that ecosystem.

35. Carbon Dioxide is produced by: • Decomposers do their job, dead organic matter is converted. • The respiration of all aerobic organisms results in carbon dioxide. • When something burns (either natural or human made)

36. Carbon Dioxide is constantly being added to the air… It is constantly being taken away through: • Photosynthesis • It dissolves into the oceans where it is used in chemical processes that marine organisms make their shells • It is also stored in sediments at the bottom of the sea where it reacts in the ocean to form minerals.

37. Greenhouse Effect Carbon in the atmosphere keeps the earth hospitable for life. It helps keep the planet warm. The Greenhouse effect is the process by which certain gases ( principally water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane) trap heat that would otherwise escape the earth and radiate into space.

38. As the sun radiates light onto earth it warms the planet. However the earth tests to radiate a lot of that light back out into space. This cools the planet. If the earth did not have these certain gases, it would be a very cold place. These gases trap much of the light that is radiated by the earth. As a result energy is not lost, but held by the air making the earth warm enough to support life.

39. In our second hour, we will be performing Experiment 10.1: Carbon Dioxide and the Greenhouse Effect.

40. Global Warming As the earth’s atmosphere has higher concentrations of Carbon dioxide that greenhouse effect is already becoming enhanced and the earth is already getting abnormally warm. See figure 10.11

41. The Nitrogen Cycle Nitrogen is critically important to living organisms as well. Nitrogen is in many of the chemicals such as DNA, RNA and proteins. It is important to understand how organisms get nitrogen that they need and what happens to nitrogen after those organisms die.

42. The majority of the air that we breathe is nitrogen (78%). Remember Oxygen makes up 21% Organisms use nitrogen in their biosynthesis (It must chemically react with other substances) So organisms convert to more chemically active molecules such as nitrates, nitrites or ammonia.

43. So how do these organisms get such chemically active molecules? One way is through the process of nitrogen fixation which converts nitrogen gas into chemically active molecules that can be used.

44. The nitrogen in the atmosphere and soil gets changed or “fixed” into a form that can be used by plants. It is changed into a single Nitrogen atom (N) by: • Lightening • Bacteria • Root nodules (soy beans)

45. Plants are able to absorb the usable or “fixed” nitrogen and use it for their growth process. Farmers now add fertilizer with nitrogen to their soil to promote plant growth. The “Old Fashioned Way” … Before farmers used plant rotation to enhance nitrogen to their soil.

46. Animals eat the plants and eventually die, returning nitrogen to the soil and atmosphere as a gas. Lastly, the cycle repeats itself and continues.

47. Ecosystem Ecology https://youtu.be/FhaldPmkoNE

48. Environmental Matter Exchange http://youtu.be/9b_95wj3wyg

49. Lab: Experiment 10.A • Identify, draw and label the following cycles: • The Water Cycle (figure 10.7) • The Oxygen Cycle (figure 10.9) • The Carbon Cycle (figure 10.10) • The Nitrogen Cycle (figure 10.12)

50. Experiment 10.1 Carbon Dioxide and the Greenhouse Effect OBJECTIVE: To observe the ability of carbon dioxide to absorb energy from the sunlight.