1st Law: Everything is connected to everything else
Humans and other species are connected (dependent) on a number of other species.
BIOTIC COMPONENTS
1st Law & Food webs
Eat or be eaten.
Autotroph / primary producer
Photosynthesis Chemosynthesis
PPP: A plant = producer = photosynthesisImage source: http://hartm242.wordpress.com/tag/chemosynthesis/
Makes own food (glucose) from primary energy source (sun or deep-sea thermal vents)
Heterotroph/ consumer
• Cannot make their own food • Must eat other living organisms
http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/mrshart/933775
Hetero (others) troph (nutrition)
Herbivore or primary consumer
palynivore (pollen)xylophage (wood)
Eat producers
Folivore (leaves)frigivore (fruit)granivore (seed)
mucivore (sap)nectivore (nectar)
Secondary consumers
Predator- hunting & eating
Eat consumer level below themCarnivore = meat-eaters Omnivore = eat animals and plants
Prey- hunted & eaten
Quaternary consumers eat tertiary consumers (eagle eating a snake)
Top/ Apex predator
The top-end of the food chain
Humans often not considered natural enemies
Is not eaten by anything else(is not prey) because it has little/no natural enemies*
Detritivores• Eat detritus: plant and animal remains, shed
parts (skin, antlers, leaves), and wastes• Scavengers- detritivores that specialized in
carrion (dead animal bodies) or other animal wastes
Decomposers (aka saprotrophs)• gets its energy from non-living organic matter.• Help speed up the decaying process.
Cool fact: A gram of soil typically contains 40 million bacterial cells, and the bacteria on Earth form a biomass that exceeds that of all living plants and animals.
Fungi eat the dead matter by releasing acid to melt the decaying material, then sucking in all the acid, along with the melted material
TROPHIC LEVELShttp://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/virtual_labs_2K8/labs/BL_21/index.html
The difference between webs and chains
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/ponddip/index.html
top predator
Image Source: http://www.mesa.edu.au/ Image Source: worldslife-nisha.blogspot.com
Where do you find:
The most number of organismsGreatest amount of biomass (amount of living matter)Least amount of energy
10,000 fresh water shrimps support 1,000 bleak fish, which in turn support 100 perches followed by 10 northern pikes and finally one osprey.
What’s On The Menu Data Sheet
List each organism in your EcoColumn, including any “newcomers” since youfirst stocked it. For each organism, identify its source(s) of energy and classify it as a producer, consumer, or decomposer. Use this data to construct a food webfor your EcoColumn on the Food Web Chart.
Chamber Organism Energy source
Producer Consumer Decomposer
Terrestrial
Decomposition
Aquatic
Biotic Factors and the E-column
In your e-column diagram, classify the organisms whether these are autotrophs, heterotrophs, detritivores, or decomposers.