Chapter Summary: Energy Through Ecosystem

4880 Words20 Pages

Chapter one: Pages 3-4
Chapter two: Pages 5-7
Chapter three: Pages 8-9
Chapter four: Pages 10-12
Chapter five: Pages 13-15
Chapter six: Pages 16-19
Chapter seven: Pages 20-22
Chapter eight: Pages 23-25
Chapter nine: Pages 26-28
Chapter ten: 29-31
Works Cited: 32-34

Chapter One: The Biosphere
The biosphere is the region of earth in which all living and non-living organisms that interact with each other are located. This region of earth is separated into the following five levels in ascending order; species, populations, communities, ecosystems, and biomes. The first level of the biosphere are the species, which are individuals who are genetically related and can produce offspring. Examples of species would be alligators, …show more content…

This can pertain from either a primary consumer eating a producer or a tertiary consumer eating a secondary consumer. In an ecosystem, energy is moved around when organisms eat other organisms and this flow of energy can be shown in a food web or a food chain. A food chain shows what organisms eat what to get their energy and the arrow pointing from one organism to another means that the organism that the arrow is pointing to eats the organism that the arrow is drawn from. A food web on the other hand is many food chains in one diagram showing multiple ways organisms get their energy rather than just one path. In both a food chain and a food web there are producers and consumers. Producers are generally at the bottom of the chain and the web and produce their own food therefore being classified as a producer. Organisms that eat the producer and other organisms are classified as consumers because they eat other organisms to obtain their energy. In a food web there are 6 different methods of feeding/obtaining energy. These organisms based on their feeding method/ method of obtaining energy are producers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, detritivores, and decomposers. All these organisms are consumers except for the producer. Herbivores are consumers that only eat vegetation, carnivores are animals that only eat meat, omnivores are animals …show more content…

This is called the sunlit zone because there is enough light that penetrates the water to have photosynthesis take place. The producers in this zone are usually species of algae, plants, and phytoplankton, and they all generate about 90% of the earth's gaseous oxygen. The zone below the sunlit zone is the mesopelagic zone which is also known as the twilight zone. This part of the ocean only receives flickers of light during the day time causing plants to not be able to live here because this zone is unable to support enough light for photosynthesis to take place. And because of the lack of light in this zone, most animals are bioluminescent meaning they produce their own light by using chemicals. The deepest and last zone found in the ocean is the bathypelagic zone which is also known as the midnight zone because of the lack of light. This zone of the ocean is extremely cold and has extremely high pressure and the only light that can be seen is light generated by bioluminescent animals. And since photosynthesis cannot take place, energy is provided from organic matter from the water column which is the plants and animals that float down from the higher