...Energy Flow through an Ecosystem Energy Flow through an Ecosystem Explain how most living things depend on the sun as their ultimate energy source. “Without the sun, all life dies” (Konacq, 2014). Plants need to photosynthesize the food they need for growth. The food chain is also affected. Photosynthesis is needed to make nutritious food that animals depend on for survival (Konacq, 2014). Without sunshine, “all plants die” (Konacq, 2014). Because plants support the global food chain for all life, without plants, “all animals would die” (Konacq, 2014). The sun also aids in keeping the earth at a reasonable temperature and in the past, sunshine has helped make fossil fuels which we use today (Konacq, 2014). Describe the characteristics that make water so unique and essential for life on Earth. 1. Water molecules are polar. They have a slightly positive charge on one side and a slight negative charge on the other. Water carries materials to and from cells and it dissolves polar or ionic substances (Cunningham and Cunningham, 2013). 2. Water is the only liquid that is inorganic and occurs in nature. It occurs normally and at temperatures that are suitable for life (Cunningham and Cunningham, 2013). 3. Water molecules stick together cohesively. It adheres to surfaces and can be drawn into small channels (Cunningham and Cunningham, 2014). 4. Water expands when it crystalizes. If the temperatures happen to fall below freezing, the surface layers of bodies...
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... March 20, 2015 THE FLOW OF ENERGY AND MATTER IN ECOSYSTEM When we think about ecosystems, we need to think both big and small. We need to consider the recycling of atoms between organisms and within their environment and the flow of energy through living organisms and its changes from one form to another. We need to appreciate the relationships between organisms, and between organisms and their environment. We also need to consider the potential effects that these relationships have, not only on individual organisms and their environment, but also on our planet. WATER Organisms need water to survive. The good news is that water cycles through ecosystems. The bad news is that, at times, the amount of water available can be too great (as in the case of floods) or too little (as in the case of drought). Some species have adapted to these conditions and possess adaptations that increase their chances of survival. Other organisms are not so fortunate and severe conditions of too much or too little water can result in their death. If too many of a particular type of organism die, then the decrease in their population size can have implications not only for other members of their food web, but also for other biotic and abiotic factors within their ecosystem. ENERGY As energy flows through ecosystems, from producers to consumers to detrivores to decomposers, some energy is lost at each level. The Sun is life’s main energy supply. Using energy from the Sun, plants make...
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...Ecosystem • An ecosystem is a collection of all of the organisms that live in a particular place along with their nonliving or physical environment o School as an ecosystem Ecology • The study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment • Levels: individual organism (Species), population, community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere Energy Flow • In ecosystem, energy flows from sun or inorganic compounds to producers (make own food) to consumers (rely on other organisms for food) • In one direction: Sun → Autotrophs → Heterotrophs o Sunlight is main energy source for life Autotrophs (Producers) capture energy from sunlight or inorganic compounds • I.e. plants, certain bacteria, some algae • Autotrophs either use photosynthesis: CO2 + H2O & light energy → O2 + C6H12O6 • Or chemosynthesis: certain bacteria use chemical energy to produce carbs Heterotrophs (Consumers) - rely on other organisms for energy and food • Types: herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, detritivores, decomposers Energy Flow - Ecosystems o Food Chain – series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten o Food Web – links together all food chains in an ecosystem o Trophic Level – each step in a food chain or web Ecological Pyramids – diagram showing the relative amount of energy in each level or a food web or food chain • Energy pyramids – show how much energy available at ea. Trophic level o 90% used for life processes or lost as heat...
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...1.4.6 Energy Flow Worksheet What is an ecosystem? An ecosystem is a _________________________________________ with ___________________ and their __________________________ within _____________________, e.g. woodland, etc. Energy Flow Ecosystems are unable to function unless there is a constant ________________________________ _____________________. Where does this energy come from? __________________ The Sun The sun is the _________________________________________________ for our planet. Energy Flow is the _________________________________________________ from one organism to the next in an ecosystem due to ________________, e.g. along a food chain Feeding allows _____________________________________________________ in an ecosystem. Energy flow in the ecosystem Food Chain Is a flow diagram that begins with a _______________ and shows how _____________________ is passed through a series of ______________________________________. Each organism feeds on the one before it. A food chain ends when there is _____________________________________________________. An example of a food chain: __________ ( ____________ ( ______ A Grazing food chain is one where the __________________________________ e.g. ________________ ( grasshoppers ( frogs ( hawks ...
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...ENV/100 October 29, 2012 Shelby Barker Rainforest Rainforest covers about 6% of the earth's surface and is one of the most diverse ecosystems. Influencing how energy flows through this ecosystem is the fact that most f the plants living mass is above ground. There are plenty of cycle in the rainforest that make sure the flow of energy and nutrients through this ecosystem is continual. Photosynthesis is the process which energy is harnessed from the sun and used along with carbon dioxide and water to produce energy and food. This allows plants to provide food for the wildlife by distributing the energy. This cycle is completed when plants and animals die and decompose, making nutrients such as, carbon dioxide again. The rainforest has four layers that energy flows through. The ground level is the most heavily impacted in terms of how it adapts to shadowy conditions, which in term affects its impact on photosynthesis. Essential, in the flow of energy on the ground level through decomposing are fungi and earthworms. The cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and oxygen contribute to the transportation of matter along with other bioactive elements that are linked to animal life, plants, and bacterial life in this region. These cycles are associated with water, soil, and seasonal energy fluxes. This ecosystem has a surprising level of sophistication, the animal life, plants and bacterial life use to adapt to their surroundings to conserve and access nutrients. Due to the organisms...
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...Web The life of the organisms in the Mojave Desert originates with the light and energy that the sun provides. In combination with the solar energy, rainfall, carbon, and nutrients the miracle of life begins with plants growing from seeds from the parent plant. Scientists refer to these plants as autotrophs, or producers because they make their own food energy by using the process of photosynthesis. A heterotroph cannot produce energy, and therefore are dependent on the producers and other herbivores to receive their source of energy. The first type of heterotroph is the primary consumer, which are the herbivore that eat only plants. These herbivores are one of the food sources of the omnivores, the secondary consumers, which consume plants and herbivores. Omnivores will also consume carnivores. Carnivores consume omnivores and other carnivores as their primary food sources. The connections of each species within this cycle are the networks that scientists call the food chain, and connected food chains a food network or food web. Another important connection in this cycle is the process of energy passing from one organism to the next. This process is the energy flow, and the food web illustrates the energy flow among the organisms in the food chain for the Mojave Desert ecosystem. The Pathways of Energy Flow Scientists identify food chains and food webs as the pathways that energy and matter pass from each link in the chain beginning with the producers and distributing...
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...Rainforest Ecosystem Functions Ben Barr, Melodie Ocampo, Marline Pierre, Martha Tejada BSBH/ENV100 October 17, 2011 Wendy Armstrong Rainforest Ecosystem Functions The rain forest can be believed to be a living organism; they are a forest categorized by the amount of rain that falls throughout the year. Rainforest are some of this planet’s most complex ecosystems. “They once covered 14% of the earth's land surface and now they cover a mere 6%” (RainTree, 2010). Nonetheless, more than half of plant and animal species make it their home. It is home to some magnificent creatures and even some unidentified species. The largest part of the plants and animals that exist in the rainforest are endemic, which means they do not live anywhere else in the world. For this paper, Team C will discover the different aspect of the rainforest; also, how it functions within itself. Rainforest Climate The rainforest climate is humid, and has rain most of the time. Michael, (2001),"The sun warms the land and sea and the water evaporates into the air. The warm air can hold a lot of water vapor. As the air rises, it cools. That means it can hold less water vapor” (para. 1). When the warm meets, the cold vapor happens, clouds produced, and clouds make rain. Adapting to the climate the plants make up the underlining of the rainforest. Moreover, the rainforest is hot because of where it is to the equator. In addition, its plant life will die out if the temperature...
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...01/23/2012 SCI/256 Mrs Fields. 'Ecosystem' An ecosystem is a combination of all the biological and physical properties of the natural world, usually in a recognizable area. If that definition sounds rather dauntingly academic, its for two reasons: First it is academic definition , and second, the term “ecosystem” is not easy to define satisfactory. Perhaps the best way to think of a ecosystem is to envision all the biological and physical events , plants growth, rain, temperature fluctuations, predictions, parasitism, death and so on occurring in a relatively large geographic are tied together by some dominating physical feature. Thus one could envision ,and for example ”,the prairie ecosystem,”which would encompass a large, more or less self-sustaining, relatively flat and dry region in which perennial grasses were the dominant vegetation,characteristic native vertebrate animals were predominantly herbivores such as bis on and rodents, and the major shaping physical forces were fire,wind and extreme temperature fluctuations. If you're bored by prairie ecosystem,then of course you could envision a coral reef ecosystem,a desert ecosystem,or the most complicated ecosystem of all,the tropical forest ecosystem. In the absence of humane disturbance, ecosystem tend to remain stable for relatively long periods thousand of years. During most of Earths history, destruction resulted from global...
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...Energy flow through an Ecosystem Sommer Perry-Robinson SCIE131-E1FF James Hicks August 21, 2014 Freshwaters Sun Sun Decomposers Decomposers * Abiotic- air, water, sunlight * Biotic- plants, fish, etc. * Producers- plants (rooted to the bottom), algae (attached to the plants) and other solid substrate. * Consumers- tiny crustaceans, flatworms, insect larvae, snails, frogs, fish and turtles. Energy flow through an Ecosytem The ecosystem uses energy from the sun when the plants use a process called photosynthesis. This process is when the plant uses the sunlight to make sugar molecules. Also during this process the plants gain solar energy. The solar energy trap will produce chemical reactions that will require water and carbon dioxide. The carbohydrates (chemical reaction from water and carbon) are consumer by animals. Soon a chain reaction begins: plants- animals eat the plants- animals eat the animals that eat the plants. The sunlight energy will move, grow and reproduce. There are six characteristics that make water so unique and essential for life on earth: changing tetrahedrality, a versatile solvent, and attraction between molecules, freezing density, ability to hold nutrients and oxygen, state changes supporting energy transfer. Water can change from liquid to gas, making it possible to supply solar energy around the planet. Water also can hold nutrients and oxygen, which are both essential for organisms to survive. With water...
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...“Content for This Unit”. 2. Read the “Overview” and “The producers”. 3. Click on “Step 1” 4. Follow the directions in the paragraph. 5. Then, click on the “Open Simulation” link on the top right and run the simulation. 6. Record data in the data table and answer all questions below. More information will be provided by TA in the class. A. The Producers Run the simulation and enter the value in the box Lesson 1: Step 1 Plant A Plant B Prediction: starting population 5000 5000 Prediction: ending population 10000 0 Starting population 6114 3427 Ending population 10000 0 Answer all questions Producers Step 1 1. What assumptions does this model make about co-dominance as well as the general terrain of the ecosystem? Plant A competes with plant B, because as the number of plant A goes up, the number of plan B goes down. So they do not have co-dominance. They cannot live in the same terrain. 2. Do you find one producer to be dominant? Why might one producer be dominant over another? Plant A is dominant over plant B, because plant B died out in the end, but plan A survived and left. Step 2: Run the simulation and enter the value in the box Lesson 1: Plant A Plant B Herbivore A Prediction: starting population 10000 0 0 Prediction: ending population 5000 0 5000 Starting population 10000 0 0 Ending population 3333 0 2223 Answer all questions Step 2 1. Does adding the herbivore establish a more equal field? Is one producer still...
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...Natural Resources and Environmental Regulations Natural Resources- Healthy Ecosystems Recognizing healthy ecosystems as the basis for sustainable water resources, and stable food security can help produce more food per unit of agricultural land, improve resilience to climate change, and provide economic benefits for poor communities. According to, a report, from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and The International Water Management Institute (IWMI): in partnership with 19 other organizations. As well as, the Stockholm Environment Institute, the Stockholm Resilience Centre. The report shows how managing and investing in the connections between ecosystems, water and food, through diversifying crops, planting trees on farmland improving rainwater collection, and other practical steps, could help avoid water scarcity, and meet the growing food demands of a global population set to reach 9 billion by 2050 (sei-international.org, 2011). When Scientist tries to understand how ecosystems function, it is not simply out of curiosity about the world. They also know that human society depends on healthy, functioning ecosystems. When Earth’s ecosystems function normally and undisturbed, the provide good and services that we could not survive without (Wilcott, Brennan, 2011, p 121). Nutrients to our farmlands, waters and air help ecosystems cycle through the chemical elements and compounds, that we need such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, water, and many more that cycle...
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...cycle, nitrogen cycle, and the ecosystem function and structure. Also discussing the disturbance and how natural can bounce back after these types of disturbance. 3 Tropical Rainforest The ecosystem of the Tropical Rainforest is a community of living organisms such as plants, animals and microbes in conjunctions with the nonliving components of their environment such as air, water and mineral soil, interacting as a system. (http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosystem.com) Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal factors. The external factors such as climate, this is the material which forms the soil and topography, and control the overall structure of an ecosystem and the way things work with in it. Other external factors are time, potential biota. The internal factors not only control ecosystem processes but are also controlled by them and are often subject to feedback loops. The resource inputs are generally controlled by external processes like climate and parent material. (http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosystem.com) The ecosystem processes, is when the energy and carbon enter ecosystems through photosynthesis, are incorporated into living tissue, transferred to other organisms. The biotic and abiotic components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. The energy, water, nitrogen and soil minerals are other essential abiotic components of an ecosystem. The energy that flows through ecosystems is obtained primarily from...
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...will die out. | | Starting population | 6,000 | 3,500 | Ending population | 10,000 | 0 | Lesson 1:Step 2 | Plant A | Plant B | Herbivore A | Prediction: starting population | Will continue to prosper, but it’s ending population will be lower than that in step 1. | Will have more of a chance of surviving for a longer period of time. | Will grow with plant A | Prediction: ending population | Lower than that in part 1 | Higher than in part 1. Higher than plant A. | Will grow as plant A decreases. | Starting population | 5,256 | 3,700 | 1,312 | Ending population | 3,335 | 4,998 | 2,055 | Responses to questions | Step 1 1. What assumptions does this model make about co-dominance as well as the general terrain of the ecosystem? That the more dominant species will prosper the most due to competition. The terrain’s conditions are suitable for only one plant to prosper. 2. Do you find one producer to be dominant? Why might one producer be dominant over another?Yes. Plant A was dominant. I think the reason is that Plant A was most suited for the terrain.Step 2 1. Does adding the herbivore establish a more equal field? Is one producer still dominant over the other? Why might one producer be dominant over another?Yes it did. Plant A is still dominant but not by as much because the rabbit eats it allowing Plant B to come through. 2. If the simulation included decomposers, how would your current results change?I think that both plants would do better and in...
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...1. Ecosystems and How They Work - Sustainable Development In this assignment, you will investigate the biotic and abiotic structure and function of an ecosystem. Choose one of the following ecosystems: * Tropical rainforest * Grassland * Coral Reef * Estuary * Desert You will write a two to three page APA-style research paper about your choice of ecosystem including: * Where might this type of ecosystem be located? Give one specific example. * Describe the structure of the ecosystem: List both the abiotic components and biotic components * Describe the function of the ecosystem: How do the abiotic and biotic components interact in biogeochemical cycles? Describe both the carbon and nitrogen cycles * Describe disturbance and recovery: Describe one natural and one human caused disturbance to the ecosystem. Explain the damage to the ecosystem, including how the abiotic and biotic characteristics of the ecosystem changed. * Explain how ecosystems recover naturally ... (More) Ecosystem Definition noun, plural: ecosystems A system that includes all living organisms (biotic factors) in an area as well as its physical environment (abiotic factors) functioning together as a unit. Supplement An ecosystem is made up of plants, animals, microorganisms, soil, rocks, minerals, water sources and the local atmosphere interacting with one another. Word origin: coined in 1930 by Roy Clapham, to denote the physical and biological components...
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...All organisms in an ecosystem can be placed in trophic levels depending on what energy source they rely upon and how they provide energy for other organisms in the food web. With the exception of life near hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean, life is always dependent directly or indirectly on the energy from the sun. In every ecosystem, there is an organism at the lowest level that converts energy from the sun into useable energy for other organisms. For example, phytoplankton are photosynthesizers that provide energy for a vast number of primary consumers, which in turn provide energy for secondary consumers and decomposers. The flow of energy generally describes the movement and loss of energy and matter through a community or ecosystem,...
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