Name:__________________________________ Science Notes/Study Guide Date:____________ Mrs. Thal #____ Unit A, Chapter 4, Lessons 1-4 Lesson 1 – What Makes Up an Ecosystem? Definitions Ecosystem: all the living and nonliving parts in an area Ecology: the study of relationships among living and nonliving parts of an area Habitat: the place where a species lives Niche: the role of a species in an ecosystem Population: all of the members of one species that live in the same area Community: all the populations living together in one area Questions 1. Where do almost all the nutrients in a tropical rainforest come from? Inside living things 2. What is the sunlight and temperature like in a rainforest? Same amount of sunlight every day all year long; temperature is always warm; there are no short days 3. Where do howler monkeys spend most of their time? High in trees 4. In the rainforest, howler monkeys and leaf cutter ants are part of the same community. 5. What happens to the nutrients inside a living thing when it dies in a rain forest? Decomposers break it down and release its nutrients. Then plants reuse those nutrients for growth. Lesson 2 – How Do Living Things Get Energy? Definitions Photosynthesis: the process by which plants use sunlight to make sugar from water and carbon dioxide Producer: an organism the uses sunlight to make sugar from water and carbon dioxide Consumer: an organism that consumes other organisms for food Scavenger: an animal that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms Decomposer: an organism that helps decay dead organisms and the wastes of living organisms Questions 1. Plants aren’t the only organisms that can carry out photosynthesis. What else can? Some single-celled (one celled) organisms. They live mainly in the oceans. 2. Consumers that eat only plants are called herbivores. Consumers that eat other consumers are called carnivores. Consumers that eat both plants and animals are called omnivores. Lesson 3 – How Does Energy Move Through an Ecosystem? Definitions Energy Pyramid: A diagram that compares the amount of energy available at each position, or level, in the feeding order Food Web: A combination of all the food chains in a community Questions 1. What is a food chain? It shows a simple view of how energy and nutrients pass through an ecosystem. 2. Why does the amount of available energy decrease as you move up the energy pyramid? Each organism uses some energy for its life processes. Most of it is lost as heat. 3. Describe the first level in an energy pyramid. It is the largest level, with the most energy. It represents the energy trapped by all of the producers. 4. How is a food web different from a food chain? A food web shows all the relationships that can exist between different organisms. One organism might be food for several different organisms. 5. Does the removal of a predator form a food web always have a positive effect on the food web? Explain. No, because other organisms under the predator in the food web might increase in population, but their food supply would not increase. There might not be enough food for them all. Lesson 4 – What are some Natural Cycles in an Ecosystem? (No definitions for this lesson) Questions 1. Name 3 natural cycles in an ecosystem. Carbon dioxide-oxygen, nitrogen, water 2. In the carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle, what do consumers give off that producers need? Carbon dioxide 3. What process is the opposite of photosynthesis? respiration 4. In the nitrogen cycle, some bacteria in the soil can combine nitrogen gas from the air with other substances to form nitrogen compounds. 5. Plants use nitrogen compounds to make proteins. 6. How does water cycle through the nonliving part of an ecosystem? Water evaporates from the land and oceans and forms water vapor, it condenses and then comes back down to earth as precipitation.