CHAPTER 5 NOTES: How Ecosystems Work
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Name _____Period ______Date ______
CHAPTER 5 NOTES: How Ecosystems Work
Environmental Science
Directions: Fill in the information from the Classroom Chart or the online chart.
Environmental Science Standard and element:
SEV3. Students will describe stability and change in ecosystems.
b.) Explain succession in terms of changes in communities through time to include changes in biomass,
diversity, and complexity.
Trophic Levels: .A trophic level is one of the steps in a food chain or food pyramid; examples include producers and primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers.Each time energy is transferred, some of the energy is lost as heat.Therefore, less energy is available to organisms at higher trophic levels.One way to visualize this is with an energy pyramid. Each layer of the pyramid represents one trophic level. Producers form the base of the energy pyramid, and therefore contain the most energy. The pyramid becomes smaller toward the top, where less energy is available.
Energy Loss Affects Ecosystems:
ENERGY PYRAMID showing Trophic Levels
Environmental Science – FOOD WEB – Chapter 5
Directions: Fill in the information from page 130 in the Environmental Science Textbook or the online chart.
Environmental Science Standard and element:
SEV1. Students will investigate the flow of energy and cycling of matter within an ecosystem and relate these phenomena to human society.
b.) Relate energy changes to food chains, food webs, and to trophic levels in a generalized ecosystem, recognizing that entropy is a primary factor in the loss of usable food energy during movement up the trophic levels.
A food web ______. A food chain shows _ . The base of a food web is occupied mostly by vegetation (producers) and fine organic debris (decomposers). Herbivores (primary consumers) and carnivores (secondary consumers) occupy the higher levels. Omnivores occupy an intermediate level in the food web. Food webs are complicated by the fact that many species feed at various levels.
Plants convert the sun's energy into their leaves, roots, stems, flowers and fruit through photosynthesis. Organisms eat the plants, and through the process of respiration use the stored energy to conduct their everyday activities. Additionally, some energy is lost as heat. In all, the organism uses about 90 percent of the stored plant's energy. After several steps in the food chain, no energy is left to recycle.
Figure 8 This food web shows how the largest organisms, such as a killer whale, depend on the smallest organisms, such as algae or ______, in an ocean ecosystem. Phytoplankton is the most important part of the marine food chain.
FOOD WEB
autotroph - ______
heterotroph-
Environmental Science – Carbon Cycle – Chapter 5
Directions: Fill in the information from the classroom or the online chart.
Environmental Science Standard and element:
SEV1. Students will investigate the flow of energy and cycling of matter within an ecosystem and relate these phenomena to human society.
a.)Interpret biogeochemical cycles including hydrologic, nitrogen, phosphorus, oxygen, and carbon cycles. Recognize that energy is not recycled in ecosystems.
Figure 7
CARBON CYCLE
Environmental Science – Nitrogen Cycle – Chapter 5
Directions: Fill in the information using the classroom or online key.
Environmental Science Standard and element:
SEV1. Students will investigate the flow of energy and cycling of matter within an ecosystem and relate these phenomena to human society.
b.)Interpret biogeochemical cycles including hydrologic, nitrogen, phosphorus, oxygen, and carbon cycles. Recognize that energy is not recycled in ecosystems.
Nitrogen Cycle –
Nitrogen -
NITROGEN CYCLE
Environmental Science – Phosphorus Cycle – Chapter 5
Directions: Fill in the information using the classroom or online key.
Environmental Science Standard and element:
SEV1. Students will investigate the flow of energy and cycling of matter within an ecosystem and relate these phenomena to human society.
c.)Interpret biogeochemical cycles including hydrologic, nitrogen, phosphorus, oxygen, and carbon cycles. Recognize that energy is not recycled in ecosystems.
PHOSPHORUS CYCLE
Phosphorus in the form of ions PO43- and HPO42-. It is a part of DNA-molecules, of molecules that store energy (ATP and ADP) and of fats of cell membranes. Phosphorus is also a building block of certain parts of the human and animal body, such as the bones and teeth. Phosphorus can be found on earth in water, soil and sediments. Unlike the compounds of other matter cycles phosphorus cannot be found in air in the gaseous state. This is because phosphorus is usually liquid at normal temperatures and pressures. It is mainly cycled through water, soil and sediments. In the atmosphere phosphorus can mainly be found as very small dust particles. Phosphorus moves slowly from deposits on land and in sediments, to living organisms, and then much more slowly back into the soil and water sediment. The phosphorus cycle is one of the slowest cycles of matter. Phosphorus cycles through plants and animals much faster than it does through rocks and sediments. When animals and plants die, phosphates will return to the soils or oceans again during decay. After that, phosphorus will end up in sediments or rock formations again, remaining there for millions of years. Eventually, phosphorus is released again through weathering and the cycle starts over.
Environmental Science – Ecological Succession – Chapter 5
Directions: Fill in the information from the Classroom Chart or the online notes.
Environmental Science Standard and element:
SEV3. Students will describe stability and change in ecosystems.
b.) Explain succession in terms of changes in communities through time to include changes in biomass,
diversity, and complexity.
ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
Ecological succession is the gradual process by which ecosystems change and develop over time. Nothing remains the same and habitats are constantly changing. There are two main types of succession, primary and secondary.
Primary succession______
Secondary succession