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Ecosystem Dynamics
Ecosystem Dynamics
Gary Pace
BIO111 Lab
Excelsior College
Introduction
An ecosystem is a community of both living organisms and non-living elements that live and work together to conserve energy and matter. Each and every part of the ecosystem is vital to maintaining the energy balance to sustain the ecosystem. The three major components in an ecosystem that transfer energy, are producers, consumers, and decomposers. The producers, plants, algae, flowers, and trees are a few examples, are living organisms that can produce their own food by using the sun to assist in photosynthesis and produce energy- storing molecules. Consumers are organisms that can either gain their energy from the producers
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The first level is the producers, with the remainder of the ecosystem depending on producers to get their energy, which is called heterotrophs. Heterotrophs are organisms that cannot make their own food and depend on producers for energy. The second trophic level, also known as the first order heterotrophs are the herbivores. These animals are then eaten by carnivores, this is the third tropic level or the second order heterotrophs. The third order heterotrophs contain animals that eat other animals in the third trophic level. Additionally, levels containing carnivores my also contain omnivores. The last level contains organisms that feed on decaying organisms, which are the decomposers and …show more content…
They also play a role in ensuring chemicals, such as the nitrogen, phosphorus, water, and carbon are properly regulated to ensure the ecosystem is sustainable. All ecosystems rely on sunlight to start its energy balance. Without sunlight, ecosystems would not be able to survive and earth would be uninhabitable.
During this experiment, I focused on energy flow through the levels, and assessed the number of organisms that are in each level. From what I’ve gathered, producers have the most organisms, and as a result, will have the highest level of energy. The higher the tropic level, the fewer organisms and lower energy level.
Materials
I utilized the following materials to determine the energy level for the various ecosystems:
· I utilized research data to determine the number of organisms in each ecosystem.
· I utilized research data to determine the amount of energy each level consumes
Methods
1. After I determined how many organisms are in an associated ecosystem, I placed the organisms in the appropriate trophic level.
2. I documented the number of organisms at each trophic level.
3. I determined the amount of energy at each trophic level.
4. I calculated the Energy Conversion Efficiency for each level ecosystem.
5. I calculated the average of Energy Conversion Efficiency for each ecosystem.
6. I analyzed the results
a.) Choosing organisms from four different trophic levels of this four web as examples, explain how energy is obtained at each trophic level. Since energy is a necessary part of how an organism survives, how it obtains it’s energy is crucial. When you look at an ecosystem, and all the organisms living within that ecosystem, you can link many of the species together by their dependence on each other. Scientists will look at these links to see how they depend on each other, or in other words, where their main source of energy and nutrition is.
species living in it, be they plant or animal, from going extinct. The ecosystem is constantly
All living things fall into two main categories based on how they obtain chemical energy. There are autotrophs and heterotrophs. Autotrophs are “an organism that uses energy from an external source, such as sunlight, to produce its own food without having to eat other organisms or their remains (page g14).” Within the food web, autotrophs are identified as producers because they convert the energy from sun into the energy they need through photosynthesis and are plants, algae and even some bacteria. In contrast, heterotrophs are “an organism that obtains its energy by eating other organisms or their remains (page g4).” Consumers include herbivores, carnivores, and decomposers. While autotroph are recognized by many in the
... We only need a glance outside and consider the beautiful, well-designed. world in which we live. Plants can photosynthesize vital oxygen. we rely on to survive.
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Systems, 2014. Web. The Web. The Web. 27 Feb 2014.
The ecosystem I have chosen is tropical rainforest. In the following paragraphs, I am going to firstly introduced the structure of tropical rainforest in brief, with the second part of the plant ecology and last the diversity within this ecosystem.
Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to investigate the various components of different ecosystems in a smaller representation and study the conditions required for the ecosystem’s sustainability as well as the connections between
Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model suggests that there are three different types of environments in which we develop. These systems are the microsystem, exosystem, and Macrosystem. These systems are vital in our to influence our physical nature positively, or negatively.
Eco-Columns provide a first-hand glimpse of how an ecosystem works through each level. While also allowing an impression into how each organism contributes to the overall health of the ecosystem being simulated in an eco-column. In the eco-column both a closed system and an open system were represented by, the terrestrial column being an open system and the filter chamber being a closed system. Closing off potential contamination of nutrients getting past and biogeochemical cycles being affected. When first building the terrestrial chamber we thought the terrestrial chamber would thrive because of how large our containers really were allowing for more soil to be allotted to the system.
Just one look outside and you will see all kinds of ecosystems. For example the oak tree is a ecosystem to all kinds of amazing creatures in the world. It is home to birds and bugs that live in it’s bark and its branches, and to the squirrels who make their nests in the trunks. It also provides food for other animals to. When an acorn falls off the branch deer and mice eat them too fatten up for the winter. The squirrel keeps them in it’s mouth. Another ecosystem is the ocean. One big part of that ecosystem is the coral reef. It is home to many plants and animals. For example sea plants move back and forth in the current, and fish and other sea animals come to hide in it just incase an animal harms or hurts it. Cool fact is that one quarter of all the fish in the sea live in that ecosystem. The coral reef also attracts other animals like birds, whales, turtles and seals. There are many different kinds of ecosystems small or big they are still a really big part of
ECOSYSTEMS: Microbes obtain energy from their environment. Like humans, many microbes do this by eating plant and animal material. A typical microbe buffet consists of waste from humans and other animals, dead plants and animals, and food scraps. Bacteria, fungi and algae all take part in decomposing — or breaking down — this waste material. Without them, the world would quickly be overrun with discarded food scraps, raw sewage and dead organisms.
Organisms are often divided into three major groups: producers, consumers and decomposers. Each group plays a critical role in the food chain, and life would not exist in the way it does now without any one of them. Producers are also known as autotrophs or primary producers while consumers are known as heterotrophs or secondary producers. Autotrophs can produce their own food from materials in the environment using light or chemical energy. On the other hand, heterotrophs rely on other organisms, either plants or animals, for their food source since they cannot synthesize their own food. Autotrophs, such as plants, algae and cyanobacteria, use either photosynthesis or chemosynthesis to produce energy. Most well known organisms of these autotrophs
Photosynthesis is a key contributor to all living things; photosynthesis provides the oxygen, food, and nutrients that help all living things stay healthy and alive. Photosynthesis converts solar energy into the chemical energy of a carbohydrate. Photosynthetic organisms, including land plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, which are called autotroph...
They also purify the air we breathe and water that we need to survive. Deforestation by humans is causing these functions to be lessened and damaging the atmosphere even further. (www.climateandweather.net) Deforestation is one of the major factors contributing to the greenhouse effect and desertification
The degradation of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity is increasing at an alarming rate every year. Humans are certainly not the only reason for this, but they are the main contributors. The well-being of ecosystems affects our everyday lives - consumption and consumerism depend on natural resources. Everything humans use is derived from them, in seemingly indirect and direct ways. Yet despite the fact that humans are destroying the environment, many continue to and neglect to take important measures to protect it.