1. Ecological Organization and Matter Cycles
Ms. Henriksen
Biology

2. What is Ecology?
The scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment, or surroundings.
Study how living things interact with other living things and with non-living things.

3. Abiotic factors = nonliving Biotic factors = living
non-living components in the environment…
light
water
wind
nutrients in soil
heat
solar radiation
atmosphere, etc.
Living organisms…
Plants
Animals
microorganisms in soil, etc.

4. Levels of organization

5. Levels of Organization
Species - group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring
Population- group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area
Community – group of different populations that live together in a defined area
Ecosystem - collection of all the organisms that live in a particular place, together with their nonliving environment
Biome - group of ecosystems that have the same climate and dominant communities
Biosphere - part of Earth in which life exists including land, water, and air or atmosphere

6. Cycles of Matter Matter: anything that has weight and takes up space.
Matter cannot be used up.
It is transformed.
Matter is recycled within and between ecosystems.
Example: you eat food, it is assembled into living tissue or passed out as waste.

7. Nutrient Cycles
Nutrients: all the chemical substances that an organism needs to survive.
“Building Blocks”
To build tissues
2. To carry out life’s
essential functions

8. You are floating in the air as a molecule of carbon dioxide.
You are soon absorbed by a leaf on a blueberry bush during photosynthesis.
You then become part of a carbohydrate molecule and are used to make fruit.
You are now in a blueberry that is eaten by a moose.
Within a few hours, you are passed out of the moose’s body.
A dung beetle comes along and swallows you.
You then become part of the body tissue of a mouse, which eats the beetle.
Next, you enter the body of an owl, when it eats the mouse.
Finally, you are released back into the atmosphere when the owl exhales.

9. Diagram of the carbon cycle pg
How does carbon move to the air?
How is carbon cycled back to the soil?
How is carbon stored in water?

10. The Carbon Cycle Carbon: an important part of living tissue
Animal skeletons are made of calcium carbonate
Carbon dioxide is used for respiration (breathing) and photosynthesis
Decomposition releases carbon into the soil where it is changed into coal and petroleum

11. Diagram of the nitrogen cycle
What organisms are most important for fixing nitrogen into a form that other can use?
Where do we find these organisms

12. The Nitrogen Cycle
All living organisms need nitrogen to make amino acids, which build proteins
78% of the atmosphere is made of nitrogen gas
Wastes and dead organic matter contain ammonia, nitrate and nitrite ions
Nitrate is in plant fertilizers

13. The Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen fixation: bacteria in soil and on the roots of plants (legumes) convert nitrogen gas into ammonia.
Producers cannot use nitrogen gas, but can use ammonia.
Denitrification: bacteria in soil convert nitrates into nitrogen gas and it enters the atmosphere again.

14. Diagram the phosphorous cycle
Is phosphorus ever cycled into the atmosphere?

15. The Phosphorous Cycle
Living organisms need phosphorous to make DNA or RNA (carry genetic info)
Phosphorous is not common in the biosphere and never enters the atmosphere.
Found in rock, soil minerals and ocean sediments.

16. Nutrient Limitation
Primary productivity: how fast producers create organic matter.
A Limiting Nutrient: a nutrient that is scarce or cycles slowly, limiting primary productivity.

17. Too much of a good thing…
Fertilizers are used to speed up plant growth.
Too much of a nutrient will cause an algal bloom
Algal bloom: algae grows quickly, without enough consumers to eat it up.
Algae takes over the surface of the water.
(p.80, figure 3-16)

18. Questions… Why do living organisms need nutrients?
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19. Essential Questions
What different levels of organization do ecologists study?
How to biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem interact?

20. Essential Questions
How does matter move among the living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem?
How is the phosphorus cycle different than the other cycles?
Which cycle relies heavily on bacteria?
Which cycle do humans impact most heavily?
How are nutrients important in living systems?