Science Notes

Sept 25 – Sustainable Ecosystems

 In order for an ecosystem to be sustainable, its population of living things should be indefinitely
able to live, grow, interact, reproduce, and maintain biodiversity.

Oct 2 – Elements of Ecosystems

 BiosphereBiomeEco-systemCommunityPopulationIndividual
 A biosphere is the part of the planet where life exists, and consists of biomes, eco-systems,
community, population and individual.
 A biome is a major area of land that is characterized by climate, plants, animals and type of soil.
Ex. Temperate, tropical, or tundra biome.
 An eco-system is made up of a community (biotic/living combined with abiotic/non-living)
components. Ex. Air, sunlight, rocks, water, etc.
 Within each community, there are different biological populations of living things
 Each population consists of JUST ONE SPECIES
 One member of a population is called an individual.

Oct 9 – Producers, Consumers, Food Chains, Webs, and Energy Pyramids

 All of the plant populations in an ecosystem are producers

 In an ecosystem, there are a variety of consumers
 Herbivores- plant eaters
 Omnivores- Eat both meat and plants
 Carnivores- meat eaters
 Scavengers- eats remains of dead animals (ex. Vultures)
 Detritivores- feed off organic matter (ex. Worms, maggots)
 Decomposers- breaks down organic matter (ex. Fungi and bacteria)
 Food chains and food webs both show how producers and consumers are connected to one
another in forms of energy flow.

Algaewaterfleadamselflyfrog

10000 J1,000 J100 J 10 J

 An energy pyramid shows the amount of energy at each level of a food chain. When an
animal eats something, 60% of the energy is excreted as waste, 30% is used for life processes
(ex. Movement, digestion, growth), this means only 10% of the energy is stored in the
animal, and then passed on to the animal that eats it.

Oct 17 – Energy Flow

  Using the sun’s light, Carbon Dioxide from the air and the chlorophyll in their leaves plants make
sugar for themselves. Oxygen is created as a waste product that gets released through tiny pores in
the plant’s leaves.

Carbon dioxide + water + sunlight = glucose + oxygen

CO2 + H2O + sunlight = C6H12O6 + O2

Oct 20 – Nutrient Cycles and Cycle Summaries

 Nutrients consist of elements. For example, sugar is made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
 Plants obtain CO2 from the air, and nitrogen from the soil and use photosynthesis to make sugar,
which is a carbohydrate.
 Animals obtain nutrients (carbohydrates, fats/oils, proteins) from food. Most of our bodies are
made of 4 elements: carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen.

Water cycle

1. Water transpires from plant leaves and evaporates (liquid => gas) from bodies of water to
become water vapor in the atmosphere
2. Water vapor condenses (gas -> liquid) to form clouds
3. Precipitation returns water in hydrosphere.

Nitrogen Cycle

1. Nitrogen is needed by all living things in order to make proteins

2. Bacteria allows for Nitrogen to be useable by converting it into a form that plants can absorb
3. Animals get Nitrogen by eating other plants/animals
4. Bacteria takes wastes form animals and convert it into useable Nitrogen.

Carbon Cycle

1. Carbon reservoirs (storage place) can be either biotic (trees) or abiotic (coal, oil, natural gas,
and oceans).
2. Carbon moves from one place to another through the process of photosynthesis and cellular
respiration.

Oct 24 – Biotic Interactions in Ecosystems

 Competition
 Competition occurs when organisms are interested in the same resource
 Predation
  This interaction occurs when one animal eats another. To avoid predators, some species use
mimicry
 Symbiosis
 When two different species live closely together over a long period of time, this interaction is
called symbiosis. The organisms in the relationship will: suffer, benefit, not be affected at all
 The 3 different types of symbiosis are
 Parasitism
 Mutualism
 Commensalism
 Parasitism
 One organism benefits, and the other suffers
 The benefiting organism is the parasite, and the suffering organism is the host
 The parasite lives either in or on the host
 Ex. Tick, leech, mosquito
 Mutualism
 Both organisms benefit
 Often the partners in this relationship depend on each other for survival
 Ex. Leaf-cutter ant and fungi
 Commensalism
 One organism benefits, while the other neither benefits nor suffers
 Bird’s nest in a tree

Oct 27 – Limiting Factors

 Limiting factors serve to regulate the size of populations in ecosystems. They are a necessary feature
of a healthy ecosystem as overpopulation is prevented.
 However it is possible for a limiting factor to be so severe that it causes an unnatural change to
population size. Human activities are often the contributing factor.
 Natural limiting factors include amounts of sunlight, water, competition and predation.
 Human-induced limiting factors include logging, agricultural practice, and introduction of invasive
species.
 Example of predation and resources are limiting factors.
 Lots of grass for hares to eat, therefore hare population grows, and grass population may decline. This
may allow lynx population to grow which may because hare population to decline, which may allow
grass population to increase again.

Nov 10 – Human Activity and Three Levels of Biodiversity

 Biodiversity refers not only to the variety of species in existence, but also to the variety within any
given species itself (genetic diversity), and also to the variety of ecosystems overall
 People can negatively impact biodiversity in the following ways.
 Habitat Change
 Land may be cleared for agricultural purposes or development leading native species without a
place to live
 Overexploitation
  Taking too much fish from the ocean has resulted in a drastic drop in population sizes
 Pollution
 When it rains, pesticides can be spread far from the original crops they were applied to.
 Invasive species
 Insects can easily travel on lumber or on produce that is being exported to another country. The
ecosystem to which these species are introduced my no have the ability to manage them, and may
suffer as a result.
 Climate Change
 Due to an increase in temperature, habitats are being adversely affected.

Nov 17 – Sustainability of Fishing

 The seafood industry faces a wide range of sustainability issues. For example, wild fish stocks have
been reduced all around the world. Fish farms created as a solution
 A few problems with fish farms
 Disease can spread from farmed to wild fish
 Escaped farm fish can breed with wild fish, which can negatively affect the population
 A few problems with wild fishing
 A wide variety of fishing methods exist and some are more sustainable than others
 Many fishing methods result in by-catch, thereby wasting species for no reason
 Further stock depletion
 The lowest level of the food chain (ex. algae) absorbs the mercury from the water. The gradual
buildup of mercury in the algae cells is called bioaccumulation
 With every increase in the food chain level, the mercury become more concentrated in a process
called biomagnification

Nov 18 – Sustainable Practices in Agriculture

 Half of the fruits, nuts, and vegetables are grown in Canada

 $2 billion in food is exported to Canada each year
 Sacramento and San Jonquil are the main water source feeding into the Delta
 The functions of the Delta levees are to stop water from flooding agricultural water
 These levees are prone to failure because of beavers making dams in the levees, construction, and
earthquakes
 Being on the fault line affects the levees because Earthquakes will because the salt water to mix with
the freshwater
 The global economy will be affect from the water shortages in California, this will because the
apples, wine, and microchips to cost more.
 50% of agriculture freshwater is ground water
 The ground water supply in California is being used up faster than it can replenish
 NASA uses 2 satellites to measure the gravity changes of ground water
 Some methods farmers are doing to conserve water are dripping irrigation and water efficient plants
 The problem with desalination of ocean water is that it is very expensive and uses a high amount of
energy
 70 million gallons of water is recycled in Orange County using wastewater-recycling treatment.
 3 steps to recycle water are microfiltration, reverse osmosis and high UV exposure
 It takes 45 minutes to recycle wastewater from start to finish

Dec 2 – Sustainability of Food

Food sustainability is a broad issue. Concerns exist with every food on our planet. One example is one of
the honeybees and CCD. A plant can take care of this by itself but it happens more easily and more
variation results with the help of pollinators. When a bee visits a flower, pollen rubs off on the bee. The
bee can transfer this pollen to the same flower and/or to the next one it visits.

A recently observed phenomenon is Colony Collapse Disorder, which has resulted in decreased numbers
of bees. A factor thought to play a role in CCD is the unhealthy environment created by modern farming.
Naturally, bees would pollinate a variety of crops, and receive a varied diet with monoculture (growing
just one crop) bees may not be getting adequate nutrients. Mites and exposure to chemicals are also
suspects.