Ecosystem Pictures (not done)
By; Joey Patterson
Purpose
The purpose of this project is to teach about the parts of ecology and describe the function of each part. In this presentation you will find many pictures that represent each part followed by a short description that explains that part and its purpose.
Producer
A producer is the bottom of the food chain, always are the autotrophic and make their own food by using the sun and water in the process known as photosynthesis, their energy is usually taken by herbivore/omnivores/primary consumers to continue the cycle.
Primary Consumer
A primary consumer is the first consumer in the food chain, can be either a herbivore or an omnivore they take the energy from the producer and use it to survive.
Secondary Consumer
A secondary consumer is the second consumer in the food chain, it is either an omnivore or a carnivore who receives its energy from the primary consumer. It can be the top of its food chain, but usually it has a predator that will eat it as well.
Tertiary Consumer
A tertiary consumer is a carnivore at the second highest level in its food chain that feeds on other carnivores, which would be secondary consumers.
Quaternary Consumer
A Quaternary Consumers feast on tertiary consumers, making them the top predator.
Decomposer
A decomposer is an organism that breaks down dead and decaying items and returns their energy to the soil, they reset and start every food web.
Mutualism
Where two different species of organism work together and both benefit.
Communalism
Where two different species of organisms work together and one benefits and one gains nor loses anything.
Paracitism
Where one species benifits from the relationship and the other is either killed/harmed by the other.
Predator-Prey Relationship
A predator-prey relationship is when one species is hunted and killed for food by another so it can fill its needs of energy so it cn survive.
Autotroph
An autotroph is an organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances from simple inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide.
Heterotroph
A heterotroph is an organism deriving its nutritional requirements from complex organic substance.
Uniform Dispersion
Uniform dispersion is an organism in a population that is equal to its peers.
Random Dispersion
Random Dispersion is the tendency for populations to be found randomly about their habitat. In immobile species, this is usually caused by their ability to live anywhere in a given habitat, except, they are limited to growing wherever they are first set root (which is usually caused randomly, from spores drifting in the wind to seeds falling and tumbling on the ground). In motile populations, individuals are able to move about their habitat, so that at any given instance, they can be found anywhere about their environment.
Clumped Dispersion
Clumped distribution is the most common type of dispersion found in nature. In clumped distribution, the distance between neighboring individuals is minimized. This type of distribution is found in environments that are characterized by patchy resources.
Density Dependent Factor
Any factor limiting the size of a population whose effect is dependent on the number of individuals in the population. For example, disease will have a greater effect in limiting the growth of a large population, since overcrowding facilitates its spread.
Density Independent Factor
Both living and non-living things can influence the size of a population of organisms. Some things that happen to populations, such as disease and parasites, depend on the size of the population to be successful at causing destruction. Things and events that limit the size of a population regardless of the density of the population are called density-independent factors.
Competition
Competition is an interaction between organisms or species in which the fitness of one is lowered by the presence of another.
Water Cycle
The cycle of processes by which water circulates between the earth's oceans, atmosphere, and land, involving precipitation as rain and snow, drainage in streams and rivers, and return to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration.
Carbon Cycle
The series of processes by which carbon compounds are interconverted in the environment, chiefly involving the incorporation of carbon dioxide into living tissue by photosynthesis and its return to the atmosphere through respiration, the decay of dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels.
Nitrogen Cycle
The series of processes by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment and in living organisms, including nitrogen fixation and decomposition.
Phosphorous Cycle
The phosphorus cycle is the bio-geochemical cycle that describes the movement of phosphorus through the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.
Algal Bloom
A rapid growth of microscopic algae or cyanobacteria in water, often resulting in a colored scum on the surface.
Invasive Species
A species not native to habitat its in.
Renewable Resource
An energy source that can always be used.