WHAT IS AN WHAT IS AN WHAT IS AN WHAT IS AN

ECOSYSTEM?ECOSYSTEM?ECOSYSTEM?ECOSYSTEM?

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What is an ecosystem?� A community that includes all living and nonliving things in a certain area.

� Abiotic: All the non-living things in an ecosystem

� Mountains, lakes, soil, climate, etc.

� Biotic: All the living things in an ecosystem

� Animals, plants, bacteria, etc.

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Habitat is formed from abiotic

elements

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Landscape

Water

Weather/Climate

Soil

Altitude

Biotic elements form a food web

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• What abiotic elements are in this ecosystem?

Trophic Pyramid

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Primary Producers (Autotrophs)• Create their own energy, usually from the sun• Plants and phytoplankton

Primary Consumers (Herbivories)• Get energy by consuming autotrophs• Zooplankton, small fish, cattle, etc.

Secondary Consumers• Omnivores and Carnivores • Energy from other organisms

Tertiary Consumers/Apex Predators• Omnivores and Carnivores • Bears, lions, humans, etc.

• Consumers and Decomposers are Heterotrophs. This means that they cannot produce their own energy; they must consume other organisms.

Energy Flow

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Primary Producers (Autotrophs)

Primary Consumers (Herbivories)

Secondary Consumers

Tertiary ConsumersSun

• Energy moves up the trophic pyramid and into decomposers when an organism dies.

• Only 10% of energy is transferred between trophic levels!

Nutrient Flow

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Primary Producers (Autotrophs)

Primary Consumers (Herbivories)

Secondary Consumers

Tertiary Consumers

• Consumers gain nutrients by eating food. When consumers die decomposers use those nutrients and make them available to producers.

Name the things that are biotic

or abiotic in this picture.

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