What's What

  • Producer- Green plants capable of making their own food using energy from the sun in  a process called photosynthesis.
  • Consumer- animals that cannot make their own food.  They get their energy  from other plants and animals. There are three levels: Primary, Secondary, & Tertiary.
  • Decomposer- Organisms unable to make their own food.  Bacteria and fungi are decomposers.  They break down waste products and dead organisms for food.

Food Chain

  • A food chain shows the passage of chemical energy from one organism to another.
  • The arrow always points in the direction of the energy flow.
  • Ecosystems are more complex than food chains can show.

 

Food Web

  • A food web is a complex combination of two or more food chains.

 

 

Food Pyramid

  • A food pyramid shows the successive levels of predation, and it displays the loss of energy between producers and decomposers.
  • 10% rule is easier to visualize with a pyramid.

 

Levels of organization

  1. Cells: Made up of tiny organelles
  2. Tissue: Made up of cells
  3. Organs: Made up of a group of tissue
  4. Organs Systems: Made up of a group of organs
  5. Organism: Made up of organ systems
  6. Populations: Made up of 2 or more organisms
  7. Communities: Made up of at least 2 different populations
  8. Ecosystems: Made up of at least 2 different communities

 

Consumers in depth

Herbivores

  • Root word = Herb
  • Herbs = grass, rosemary, basil, plants
  • Herbivores eat only plants.

Carnivores

  • Root word = Carn
  • Carne is meat in Spanish.  Think carne guisada.
  • Carnivores eat only meat

Omnivores

  • Root word = Omni
  • Omni means all.  Omnidirectional means all directions.  Omnipresent means all present.
  • Omnivores eat all or both plants and animal.

Scavengers

  • Root word = scavenge
  • Scavenge means to search for something through leftovers or discarded material.
  • Scavengers eat dead or dying animals.

 

Biotic & Abiotic

Biotic

  • Root word = Bio
  • Bio means living.  (ex: Biology is the study of living systems, biosphere grows living organisms)
  • Biotic means living or related to living, plants, animals, etc.
  • Outside examples included: cactus, trees, grass, ducks, humans, and bugs

Abiotic

  • Root = A
  • When "A" is put in front of a word, it can negate it.  Therefore, Abiotic is related to the non living or dead.
  • Outside examples included: the building, a dead bird, broken branches, temperature, and soil

 

The Transfer of Energy through an Ecosystem

Producers: Organisms that directly receive their energy from the sun (photosynthesis).     

                        Examples: Algae, cactus, flower

Consumers: Organisms that receive their energy from other organisms by consuming (eating) them.

                        Herbivore: consumer that eats only plants   

                        Example: Rabbit, cow, squirrel   

                        Carnivore: consumers that eat only meat   

                        Example: hawk, wolf   

                        Omnivore: consumer that eats both plants and animals   

                        Example: human, owl

                        Scavenger: Consumers that eat dead or dying organisms.  Nature's garbage disposal.   

                        Examples: hyena, vulture

Decomposers: Organisms that receive their energy from other organisms that are dead.  They break    

                        down the dead organisms.

                        Examples: worms, bacteria, fungi/mushrooms

 

Symbiosis

  • Symbiosis is a relationship between organisms.
  • Parasitism- one organism lives in or on another organism (the host), and the host is harmed by the association
  • Example: mosquito sucking human blood, tick attached to a dog, leeches
  • Mutualism- When both organisms benefit from the relationship
  • Example: the flower and bee, clown fish and sea anomie, cleaner shrimp and fish
  • Commensalism- when one organism benefits while the other organism is unaffected
  • Example: Whale and barnacles, sea turtle and algae, cattle and birds
  • Predation- An interaction between predator and prey.  The prey is hunted by the predator.
  • Example: lion hunting a giraffe, frog hunting a fly, tiger hunting a deer

 

Adaptation

Adaptations help organisms maintain stable internal conditions (homeostasis).  As an organism's environment changes, the organism must adapt and change as well in order to survive.  Over time, these adaptations may be passed through inherited traits from parent to offspring.

 

All organisms have basic needs that must be met in order for them to survive in their environment.  All organisms must have water, space, shelter, and food.  When even one basic need is removed, everything is affected.