Four Systems

of

Our

Earth

Composition of Earth Earth Has 4 main systems that interact:

Earth’s systems

Atmosphere Hydrosphere Biosphere Geosphere

water life land/rockAir/gases

Composition of Earth Earth Has 4 main systems that interact:

The Atmosphere The Hydrosphere The Biosphere

Life on Earth Sea life, plants, flying creatures, humans Encompasses hydrosphere, upper geosphere, and

lower atmosphere. The Geosphere

BIOSPHERE

The relationship between an organism and its environment is the study of ecology.

Living things interact with Non living things in the Biosphere

Biotic Factors—living components in the biosphere

Biotic, meaning of or related to life, are living factors. Plants, animals, fungi, protist and bacteria are all biotic or living factors.

Living things interact with Non living things in the Biosphere

AbioticAbiotic Factors—nonliving components in the biosphere

Environmental factors such habitat (pond, lake, ocean, desert, mountain) or weather such as temperature, cloud cover, rain, snow, hurricanes, etc. are abiotic factors.

Role of Water in the Biosphere

Water is the universal solvent and the basis of all life on our Planet.

The hydrosphere is important to the Biosphere!

Role of the Sun for the biosphere

The Sun provides the light and heat necessary to maintain life on Earth and is the ultimate source of energy.

Biotic and abiotic factors combine to create a system or more precisely, an ecosystem.

An ecosystem is a community of living and nonliving things.

Examples of ecosystems A pond. Abiotic factors? Biotic Factors?

Ocean Ecosystem Abiotic? Biotic?

Grassland ecosystem

The Impact of Changing Factors

If a single factor is changed, perhaps by pollution or natural phenomenon, the whole system could be altered.

For example, humans can alter environments through farming or irrigating. While we usually cannot see what we are doing to various ecosystems, the impact is being felt all over.

For example, acid rain in certain regions has resulted in the decline of fish population.

A food chain Shows how each living thing gets its food. Some animals eat plants and some animals eat other

animals. For example, a simple food chain links the trees, the

giraffes and the lions. Each link in this chain is food for the next link. A food chain always starts with plant life and ends with an animal.

A food chain

An is added and means “is eaten by”; also shows the flow of energy (the giraffe gets his energy from the leaves)

Now we have made a simple food chain.

Biosphere Here is an

example of another food chain.

Plants are called producers or autotrophs because they are able to use light energy to make their own food.

Animals cannot make their own food so they must eat plants and/or other animals. They are called consumers or heterotrophs. There are three groups of consumers.

Herbivores are animals that only eat plants or plant products (seeds). They are also called primary consumers

Carnivores are animals that eat other animals.

There are 2 kinds of carnivores

Secondary Consumers are carnivores that eat herbivores

Herbivores are primary consumers

Something that makes its own food is called a producer

Tertiary consumers are carnivores that eat other carnivores

killer whales (tertiary consumer—they eat another carnivore)

Dolphin (secondary consumer—they eat a herbivore)

Herring (primary consumer—they only eat plants)

Photoplankton (this plant produces its own food)

Make your own food chain

Find in your notes where it says to make your own food chain.

Start with a plant on the very left side. The arrow means “is eaten by” so think of the

next thing that might eat your plant…and so on.

Animals and people who eat BOTH animals and plants are called omnivores

WE EAT PLANTS WE EAT MEAT

To sum up:

              Animals that eat only plants.

    Animals that eat only animals.

    

Animals that eat both animals AND plants. Humans are also omnivores!

Then there are decomposers (bacteria, worms, and fungi) which feed on decaying matter.

These decomposers speed up the decaying process that releases mineral salts back into the food chain for absorption by plants as nutrients.

Do you know why there are more herbivores than carnivores?

In a food chain, energy is passed from one link to another

Lets say a plant has the # 100 to represent the energy it has made.

When a herbivore eats, it does not get all the plant’s energy. It uses up some of the energy in everyday activities. The herbivore may only get 10% of that energy.

A carnivore then eats this herbivore. The carnivore only gets 1% of that plants original energy. This is why the carnivore has to eat many herbivores to get enough energy to grow.

Energy and mass is transferred from one level of the food chain to the next with an efficiency of about 10%.

Because of the large amount of energy that is lost at each link, the amount of energy that is transferred gets lesser and lesser

The further along the food chain you go, the less food (and energy) remains available.

ENERGY’S MOVEMENT IN THE FOOD CHAIN

This energy pyramid shows many trees & shrubs providing food and energy to giraffes.

Note that as we go up, there are fewer giraffes than trees & shrubs and even fewer lions than giraffes

... as we go further along a food chain, there are fewer and fewer consumers.

In other words, a large mass of living things at the base is required to support a few at the top ... many herbivores are needed to support a few carnivores

Most food chains have no more than four or five links

There cannot be too many links in a single food chain because the animals at the end of the chain would not get enough food (and hence energy) to stay alive.

Most animals are part of more than one food chain and eat more than one kind of food in order to meet their food and energy requirements. These interconnected food chains form a food web.

FOOD CHAIN vs FOOD WEB

FOOD CHAIN

FOOD WEB

Note that the arrows are drawn from food source to food consumers ...

substitute the arrows with the words "eaten by"

The arrows also show the way energy is moving.

Recap The sun is the source of energy Water is the source of life on earth Water is in the hydrosphere, geosphere and

atmosphere, and biosphere. The living things in the biosphere are dependent on

many nonliving things. (abiotic and biotic) There are food chains and webs that show what

animals eat. The higher up on the food chain, the less predators they have.

Be able to describe who receives the most of the sun’s energy and how energy moves and is converted through the food chain.

Be able to describe how the systems are connected (atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere)