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.