Vocab Intro to Ecology�Matter cycles

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1. Biogeochemical cycle
2. Nutrient
3. Evaporation
4. Condensation
5. Precipitation
6. Transpiration
7. Legume

8. Nitrogen fixation
9. Denitrification
10. Primary productivity
11. Limiting nutrient
12. Algal bloom
13. Greenhouse effect
14. Eutrophication

Bell Ringer

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Name the three Biogeochemical Cycles

Cycles of Matter Essential Questions:

1. How do nutrients such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and water, cycle through the ecosystem?
2. How do your actions and the actions of others influence matter cycles within an ecosystem?
3. How does water act as a limiting factor in an ecosystem?
4. What is the difference between inference and evidence and how are they used to influence public policy?

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Cycles of Matter

• Matter (nutrients) is recycled within and between ecosystems
• Every living thing needs nutrients
• A nutrient is any chemical substance that an organism needs to sustain life.
• Biogeochemical cycles
• Replenishes nutrients in an ecosystem
• Link the living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem

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• Three important Biogeochemical Cycles
• Water cycle
• Carbon cycle
• Nitrogen cycle

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• Diagrams of these cycles track the pathway by which these important nutrients travel through the ecosystem.
• Nutrients are recycled. Energy flows.

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The Water Cycle

Take a moment and draw this water cycle in your notebook!

Runoff

Water

• Most abundant compound in all living things
• Plants 80-90 %

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- Animals 70-80 %

• The water cycle replenishes the Earth’s freshwater supply
• Condensation converts the water vapor to liquid water droplets
• Precipitation returns water back to the surface of the Earth.
• Storage: groundwater and surface water (oceans, lakes, rivers)

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• Evaporation and Transpiration convert liquid water to water vapor
• Transpiration is a plant process
• Animals release water vapor when they exhale and eliminate waste.

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Carbon Cycle

The Carbon Cycle

• Carbon is a key ingredient of living tissue
• Carbon Compounds: Carbs, Lipids, Proteins, & Nucleic Acids
• About 70 % of all C is stored in Oceans (carbonate, bicarbonate)
• About 28 % of all C is stored on land in fossil fuels, organic matter
• About 2 % of all C is stored in the atmosphere CO₂

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Carbon sinks

• Four main types of processes that move carbon
• Biological: photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition
• Geochemical: erosion, volcanic activity
• Biogeochemical: formation of fossil fuels
• Human activities: burning fossil fuels, mining, clearing of forest

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Carbon Cycle step by step

Bell Ringer

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Write down what you know about the Greenhouse Effect

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Cycles of Matter Essential Questions:

• How do nutrients such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and water, cycle through the ecosystem?
• How do your actions and the actions of others influence matter cycles within an ecosystem?
• How does water act as a limiting factor in an ecosystem?
• What is the difference between inference and evidence and how are they used to influence public policy?

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What about the greenhouse effect?

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Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous Oxide (N2O), CFC’s and Water Vapor

PMI - Carbon Cycle

The Nitrogen Cycle

• Nitrogen is important in the formation of

amino acids

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• Used to make proteins

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• Nitrogen used in chlorophyll

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• The atmosphere is 78 % nitrogen gas N₂

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• Atmospheric N₂ cannot be used by most organisms

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Nitrogen

• Is unique from other matter cycles due to the role of

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Bacteria?!

• Nitrogen Fixation
• Bacteria convert the Nitrogen (N2) into forms that can be used by plants
• Lightning and volcanic activity can also fix the N₂ gas.
• The usable form, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are easily dissolved and washed away.
• Decomposition also releases ammonia
• Denitrification
• N₂ is reintroduced into the atmosphere by bacteria.

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• Nitrogen Fixation and plants
• Plants that have the bacteria on their roots to fix nitrogen are called Legumes.
• The roots of legumes have nodules where the bacteria are kept

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• Legumes replenish the nitrogen in the soil to increase productivity of other important crops.
• reduces fertilizer costs
• legumes are used in crop rotation

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• Well-known legumes:

alfalfa, vetch, clover, peas, beans, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, soy, peanuts, locust trees, wisteria, and the Kentucky Coffeetree.

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Erosion

• The phosphorus cycle
• Phosphorus is an important element in the formation of Nucleic acids.
• Phosphorus is not cycled through the atmosphere - Phosphorus is Cycled through the Lithosphere and the Hydrosphere
• Phosphorus is stored in rock and soil sediments and in ocean sediments.
• Erosion releases phosphates which can be dissolved in water
• Phosphorus is most common limiting nutrient in freshwater ecosystems

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The Phosphorus cycle

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Cycles of Matter Essential Questions:

• How do nutrients such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and water, cycle through the ecosystem?
• How do your actions and the actions of others influence matter cycles within an ecosystem?
• How does water act as a limiting factor in an ecosystem?
• What is the difference between inference and evidence and how are they used to influence public policy?

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• Nutrient Limitation
• Primary productivity is the rate at which organic matter is produced by the producers
• It is influenced by the supply of nutrients
• If a nutrient is in short supply, it will limit an organism's growth
• The nutrient in short supply is labeled the limiting nutrient or limiting factor.

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How does water act as a limiting factor in an ecosystem?

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Water is needed for photosynthesis (which all plants need to generate the energy that supports growth) and animals are reliant on plants as a source of energy to grow. 

• The over-enrichment of water by nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus
• Leads to poor water quality.
• Two symptoms of eutrophication, which can destroy aquatic life in affected areas
1. hypoxia (or oxygen depletion)
2. harmful algal blooms

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Eutrophication

P.M.I - Eutrophication

Examples of algal blooms

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PMI - Battle the Bloom

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• Algal blooms disrupt the equilibrium
• More food than can be eaten.
• More food = more consumers
• leads to overpopulation
• More biomass left for more decomposition
• Decomposition takes up oxygen.

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Eutrophication

Q. What can we do about all the algae?

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Cycles of Matter Essential Questions:

• How do nutrients such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and water, cycle through the ecosystem?
• How do your actions and the actions of others influence matter cycles within an ecosystem?
• How does water act as a limiting factor in an ecosystem?
• What is the difference between inference and evidence and how are they used to influence public policy?

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• Evidence: Any thing, things, data, or statements helpful in forming a conclusion or judgment.
• Used to make observations.
• Leads to inferences
• Inference: The act or process of coming to a conclusion based solely on what you already know
• Similar to a hypothesis
• Hypothesis explains and predicts

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Inference

vs.

Evidence

activity

In your notebook create two columns like this...

For each picture (6) you will...

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Write down three observations (evidence) - things that you can actually see, that you believe are really important to the picture you are viewing.

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&

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Write down three inferences - things that you suppose are likely to happen based on what you see in the picture

• How are evidence and inference used to influence public policy?

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• Science identifies problems, measures them.

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• Public Health, endangered species, unemployment, vulnerability to natural disasters, bioterrorism, cyber attacks or bullying