I. How Does Energy Flow Through Ecosystems? (Lesson 1 Pgs. 566-569)

Biology

Ch. 18 Outline

I. How does Energy Flow Through Ecosystems? (Lesson 1 pgs. 566-569)

A. Basics

1. An ecosystem includes all the living and ______matter in an area

a. This matter includes organisms of different species and also nonliving things like rocks and rivers

2. ______study ecosystems to understand how living things interact with their surroundings and with each other

B. Phototrophs and Chemotrophs

1. The ______is the ultimate source of energy for the earth and all its ecosystems

a. The energy from the sun is transformed into food energy through ______

2. Ecologists label organisms based on how they get their energy

a. ______– an organism that gets its energy by capturing sunlight

1. Photo means “______” and troph means “the process of feeding”

2. Examples include plants and photosynthetic organisms

b. ______– An organism that gets its energy from chemical in food

1. Chemo means “______”

2. Examples include animals and insects

C. Food Chains

1. Ecologists study the ______structures of ecosystems to determine how solar energy is transferred to organisms

a. To describe the trophic structure, ecologists create diagrams to represent different feeding relationships

b. A food ______arranges organisms that feed on each other in a sequence, or series

2. Trophic Levels

a. The first trophic level is the ______

1. Producers are plants and other photosynthetic organisms that produce food that all other organisms eventually eat

b. ______– chemotrophs that eat other organisms

1. Organisms that eat the producers are primary consumers

2. A primary consumer is eaten by a ______consumer

3. There can also be tertiary (third) and quaternary (fourth) consumers

c. ______– an organism at the end of the food chain that feeds by breaking down dead organisms

1. As they break down dead organisms, they return nonliving elements, like carbon and ______, to the ecosystem

2. Ecologists studying a certain ecosystem work to define all of the food chains in that ecosystem

a. Many organisms are part of two or more food chains

D. Food Webs – all of the food chains in a community that are linked to one another

1. A food ______shows all the trophic levels and the organisms that are part of an ecosystem

2. After ecologists identify the feeding relationships in an ecosystem, they can understand how energy flows through the system

a. ______capture light energy and store it in organic matter

1. Organic matter is made up of compounds containing ______

2. Phototrophs make enough organic matter to feed the rest of the ecosystem

3. ______Productivity – the speed at which photosynthetic organisms produce organic matter in an ecosystem

E. Energy Pyramids – A diagram that compares the amounts of energy available to the populations at different levels of a food chain

1. As energy moves through the trophic levels, much of it is lost as ______

a. Heat is the most random form of energy

2. About ______% of the energy in one trophic level is transferred through to the next trophic level

II. The Cycling of Chemicals in an Ecosystem (Lesson 2 pgs. 573-576)

A. Cycles of Nutrients

1. As food is broken down and used, chemicals are rearranged into new molecules, these new molecules are returned to the ecosystem and can be used again

2. Some nutrients, like phosphorus, cycle within a ______ecosystem

a. Phosphorus is found in soil, rocks, and can be dissolved in water and then transferred back to land

b. Land and some water sources stay in a particular area and because of this phosphorus, used by organisms, usually comes from their local environment

3. Nutrients in ______can travel from one ecosystem to another

a. Nutrients found in the atmosphere include carbon, ______, and water

B. The Importance of Geological Processes

1. Geological processes control the ______parts of an ecosystem

a. Geological processes include volcanoes, ocean currents, and weather

b. Another geological nutrient source is fossil ______, such as coal, oil, and natural gas

C. The Carbon Cycle

1. Carbon is the main element in organic matter

a. The main source of carbon in any ecosystem is the ______

b. Photosynthesis is the process that changes carbon ______into organic molecules

c. These molecules are used to build cells and tissue and to provide energy for organisms

2. Cellular respiration breaks down organic molecules

a. Cellular respiration ______carbon dioxide, which cycles back into the atmosphere

D. The Nitrogen Cycle

1. Animals need nitrogen to build ______and nucleic acids

2. Ecosystems use the ______as a source for nitrogen, most of the gas in the atmosphere is nitrogen gas

a. To use nitrogen gas, it must be changed into ______or nitrates

3. Bacteria in the soil, called nitrogen-______, take in nitrogen gas and change it to ammonium

4. The ammonium is changed to nitrates by other bacteria, called ______bacteria

5. Nitrates dissolve in ______in the soil, where they can be absorbed through the roots of plants

a. Plants use nitrates to build amino acids and nucleotides

6. Nitrogen-containing molecules cycle through the food chains in an ecosystem

7. ______return nitrogen to the soil in the form of ammonium

8. Once nitrogen is cycled into an ecosystem, it usually stays there without returning to the ______

E. The Water Cycle – depends on energy from the ______

1. As solar energy warms bodies of water, ______occurs

a. During evaporation, water molecules become water ______, or gas

2. As water vapor builds up in the atmosphere, they form ______

a. clouds move through the atmosphere, constantly gaining more water

3. Clouds then release water molecules as ______like rain or snow

4. Rain and snow return water to the land and aquatic ecosystems

III. Biomes (Lesson 3 pgs. 580-582)

A. Basics

1. ______influences ecosystems by driving the water cycle and determining the overall climate of an area

2. ______is the average weather conditions for a region over a long period of time

3. Climate determines what kinds of organisms, especially ______, can exist in an area

a. The type of plants in an area influence the ______found in an ecosystem

B. Factors that Control Weather and Climate

1. Land Features

a. Example = the weather on one side of a mountain can be very different from the other side

2. Solar Energy

a. Each area of the earth does not get the same amount of ______energy

b. This is due to the curve and ______of the earth

c. These differences in sunlight cause different weather and water cycles; different cycles create different climates and this leads to different types of ecosystems

3. Ecosystems that experience the same climate conditions are grouped together into larger regions called ______

a. Ecosystems in the same biome share some of the same kinds of organisms or even the same kinds of species

C. Terrestrial Biomes – having to do with ______

1. ______Forests – a terrestrial biome with many trees and organisms

a. Main type of biome near the ______

b. Temperatures are high

2. ______– a terrestrial biome with grasses and grazing animals

a. The climate in a savanna includes a rainy season and a very dry season

3. ______– a very dry, terrestrial biome

a. Temperatures in deserts can be very hot, mild, or very cold

b. One key feature of organisms that live in deserts is their ability to save ______

4. ______– biome with rainy winters and long, dry summers

a. Contains many shubs

b. ______often control the ecosystems in this biome

5. ______grassland – a terrestrial biome with fertile soil and tall grasses

a. Grazing animals and seasons of drought prevent large plants from growing here

6. Temperate ______forest – a terrestrial biome with wet forests that change activity during winter

7. ______forest – a dry, cold terrestrial biome with cone-bearing trees

a. Experiences heavy snowfall in winter

8. ______– a cold, dry terrestrial biome with shrubs and small trees

a. Contains ______– permanently frozen soil

D. Aquatic Biomes

1. ______– water that does not contain salt

a. Examples include rivers and lakes

2. ______– aquatic biomes in the ocean

a. ______zone – an area where an ocean meets land

b. ______– a marine biome where freshwater meets saltwater

3. All aquatic zones are divided into three zones based on light exposure

a. ______zone – an area in an aquatic biome that receives solar energy

b. ______zone – an area in an aquatic biome that does not receive solar energy

c. ______zone – the floor of an aquatic biome

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