Chapter 3-1

A. Ecology
a. Scintific study of interactions among organisms and betweeen organisms
and their environment, or surroundings.
b. Biosphere
i. Portions of planet where life exists
1. Land
2. Water
3. Atmosphere
B. Levels of organization
a. Species
b. Populattions
c. Communities
d. Ecosystem
e. Biome
i. Group of ecosystems that have same climate and similar cominant
communities.
C. Ecological methods
a. Observing
b. Experimenting
c. Modeling
i. Smaller time frames, scales.
Chapter 3-2

A. Producers
a. Sunlight main energy source for life on earth
i. Only 1% used that reaches earth
b. some organisms rely on energy stored in inorganic chemical compounds
c. autotrophs
i. plants, algae, some bacteria can get energy from sunlight or
chemicals and convert to food
1. from inorganic compounds into organic molecules
d. photosynthesis: autotrophs use lght energy to power chemical reactions
that convert carbon dioxide and water into carbs and oxygen.
e. Chemosynthesis: use chemical bonds/energy to produce carbs
B. Consumers
a. Heterotrophs: rely on other organisms for food and energy
b. Herbivores
c. Carnivores
d. Omnivores
e. Detritivores
i. Mites, snails, earthworms. Feed on plant and animal remains and
other dead matter.
f. decomposers
i. bacteria/fungi. Break down organic matter.
 C. Feeding relationships
a. Energy flows in one direction
i. Food chain
ii. Food web
1. Links food chains together
iii. trophic levels
1. obtain energy from below level
D. Ecological Pyramids
a. Diagram showing relative amounts of energy or matter contained in each
trophic level in food chain/web.
b. Energy pyramid
i. From one trophic level to next, about 10% of energy is passed
c. biomass pyramid
i. biomass
1. total amount of living tissue within a trophic level
ii. represents amount of potential food available for each trophic level
d. pyramid of numbers
i. based on individual organisms at each trophic level
3-3 Outline
A. Recycling in the Biosphere
a. energy flows in one directions
b. matter is recycled
i. through biogeochemical cycles
ii. matter is just transformed
B. Water Cycle
a. evaporation
i. water changes from liquid to tgas
b. transpiration
i. evaporating from leaves of plants
c. vapor condenses into droplets that f rom clouds
i. when droplets are big enough, precipitation
1. run off, seeps into soil.
C. Carbon Cycle
a. in atmosphere, carbon is present in carbon dioxide form.
i. released into atmosphere by volcanic activity, respiration, human
activities like fossil fuels and vegetation, and decomposition of organic m atter.
b. plants take it in, build carbs.
i. carbs are passed along through comsumers.
1. respirate
D. Nitrogen Cycle
a. some bacteria convert nitrogen gas into ammonia through nitrogen fixation.
Others convert ammonia into nitrates and nitrites.
b. producers than use them to make proteins.
c. consumers eat producers and reuse nitrogenfor proteins.
i. when die, decomposers return nitrogen into soil as ammonia.
d. other soil convert ditrates into nitrogen gas through denitrification. In
atmosphere.
E. Phosphorus Cycle
a. phosphorus in DNA and RNA.
i. mostly on land in rock and soil, and in ocean sediments.
1. as soil/rock wears down, phosphate is released. Washed into
rivers hwere it dissolves. Goes to oceans where it’’s used by marine organisms.
F. Nutrient Limitation
a. primary productivity
i. rate at which organic matter is created by producers.
1. can be limited by amount of available nutrients.
b. limiting nutrient: nutrients that limits ecosystem.
i. phosphorus in fresh watear.
ii. nitrogen in salt water.
d. algal bloom
i. immediate increase in amount of algae or other producers because
of runoff of chemicals.