Ecology Notes – Part 1:

Energy Flow

Ecology Notes – Part 1:

Energy FlowBiology

Spring 2012Biology

Spring 2012

What is ecology???Ecology: the study of the interactions that take place between organisms and their environment

Living vs. Non-LivingBiotic Factors: all living things in an environment

Ex: Plants, Animals, Bacteria

Abiotic Factors: all non-living things in an environment

Ex: Rocks, Sun, Water, Air

Ecosystem

Interaction between abiotic and biotic factors in an environment create an ecosystem

Ex: Forest, Desert, Mountains, Ocean

Levels of OrganizationThings in nature are built from smaller things…

For example, we know that proteins are made of ____________

And polymers are made of ________

Arrange the terms from smallest (is needed to make the next level) to largest (needs all smaller parts to be built)

AtomsAtoms

MoleculesMolecules

OrganellesOrganelles

CellsCells

OrgansOrgans

Organism/Organism/IndividualIndividual

PopulationsPopulations

CommunitiesCommunities

EcosystemsEcosystems

BiosphereBiosphere

Levels of Organization

See the Levels of Organization PPT for additional notes

Make sure to get the definitions for population and community!!!

Ecosystem Energy Flow Two types of organisms

Those that can make their energy

And those that can’t

Some prefixes & suffixes

Auto- = self

Hetero- =

-troph = nourish

Ecosystem Energy Flow

Two types of organisms

1. Autotrophs: produce their own energy (Producers)

Ex: plants, algae & some bacteria, Amanda

Ecosystem Energy Flow

Two types of organisms

2. Heterotrophs: depend on others for energy (Consumers)

Ex: animals & fungi

Ecosystem Energy FlowTypes of Heterotrophs:

Herbivore: consume only plants

Ex: cows, rabbitsCarnivore: consume only animals

Ex: LionsOmnivore: eat both plants and animals

Ex: humans

Ecosystem Energy Flow

More Types of Heterotrophs:

Decomposer: absorb decaying or dead materials

Ex: mushrooms, bacteria, worms

Scavenger: eats anything

Ex: sea gulls

Ecosystem Energy Flow

Energy enters an ecosystem as sunlight, autotrophs convert sunlight to food molecules using photosynthesis

Heterotrophs consume

The Four Basic Needs?

•Water

•Food

•Living Space = habitat

•Stable Internal Conditions = homeostasis

Having a niche•Definition: the role of an

organism in its environment; “how it makes a living”

•A niche is a key concept in ecology:

•How it gets food

•Habitat conditions for survival

•Is it used for food?

•All its biotic and abiotic resources

Ecosystem Energy Flow

Food Chain: one series of feeding relationships

grass grasshopper mouse hawk

Food web: all feeding relationships in an ecosystem

Food Web Example

Food Webs...

•Are a model that we use to represent the feeding relationships in an ecosystem.

•They mostly show the path of materials through the different feeding relationships.

•Arrows show the direction of energy flow… sooo if I’m being pointed to, I get the energy from whatever I ate

Food Web What feeding relationships do you see?

Food Web and Food Chain

As a class, help to create a food web

http://www.gould.edu.au/foodwebs/kids_web.htm

How many different food chains can you see in the food web that was created?

Food Web and Food ChainCreate your own food web using: (arrows always point toward what is getting energy)

grass, eagle, salmon, bear, berries, wheat, rabbit, algae, herring, fox, mouse

Label the type of organism

Indicate one food chain based on your food web

Ecosystem Energy FlowEnergy Pyramid: diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web

Trophic Levels: a feeding step of a food web, consists of species that obtain energy in a similar manner

Only 10% of energy gets transferred to the next level

Energy Pyramid• Only 10% of the

energy gets from one level to the next…

• The rest is released to the environment in the form of _________

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Food Chains Show Food Chains Show Available EnergyAvailable Energy

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Energy Pyramid

Energy Pyramid

Use your food web to create an energy pyramid

label each trophic level