BIODIVERSITY

Changes in biodiversity can influence human' resources, such as food, energy, and medicines,
as well as ecosystem services that human rely on-for example, water purification and
recycling.
There are systematic processes for evaluation solutions with respect to how well they meet
the criteria and constraints of a problem.

The Nitrogen Cycle

The nitrogen cycle describes how nitrogen moves between plants, animals, bacteria, the
atmosphere (the air), and soil in the ground. Nitrogen is an important element to all life on
Earth.

Different Nitrogen States

For Nitrogen to be used by different life forms on Earth, it must change into different states.
Nitrogen in the atmosphere, or air, is N2. Other important states of nitrogen include Nitrates
(N03), Nitrites (NO2), and Ammonium (NH4).

Nitrogen Cycle

This picture shows the flow of the nitrogen cycle. The most important part of the cycle
is bacteria. Bacteria help the nitrogen change between states so it can be used. When nitrogen
is absorbed by the soil, different bacteria help it to change states so it can be absorbed by
plants. Animals then get their nitrogen from the plants.

Diagram of the nitrogen cycle

Processes in the Nitrogen Cycle

Fixation - Fixation is the first step in the process of making nitrogen usable by plants. Here
bacteria change nitrogen into ammonium.

Nitrification - This is the process by which ammonium gets changed into nitrates by bacteria.
Nitrates are what the plants can then absorb.

Assimilation - This is how plants get nitrogen. They absorb nitrates from the soil into their
roots. Then the nitrogen gets used in amino acids, nucleic acids, and chlorophyll.
Ammonification - This is part of the decaying process. When a plant or animal dies,
decomposers like fungi and bacteria turn the nitrogen back into ammonium so it can reenter
the nitrogen cycle.

Denitrification - Extra nitrogen in the soil gets put back out into the air. There are special
bacteria that perform this task as well.

Why is nitrogen important to life?

Plants and animals could not live without nitrogen. It is an important part of many cells and
processes such as amino acids, proteins, and even our DNA. It is also needed to make
chlorophyll in plants, which plants use in photosynthesis to make their food and energy.

How have humans altered the nitrogen cycle?

Unfortunately, human activity has altered the cycle. We do this by adding nitrogen into the soil
with fertilizer as well as other activities that put more nitrous oxide gas into the atmosphere.
This adds in more nitrogen than is needed by normal cycle and upsets the cycle's balance.

Fun Facts

Around 78% of the atmosphere is nitrogen. However, this is mostly not usable by animals and
plants.

Nitrogen is used in fertilizer to help plants grow faster.

Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas. Too much of it can also cause acid rain.

Nitrogen has no color, odor, or taste.

It is used in many explosives.

About 3% of your body weight is nitrogen.

The Oxygen Cycle

Oxygen is an important element to life on Earth. It is the most common element of the human
body. It makes up about 65% of the mass of the human body. Most of this is in the form of
water (H2O). Oxygen also makes up about 30% of the Earth and 20% of the atmosphere.

The Oxygen Cycle

Oxygen is constantly being used and created by different processes on planet Earth. All of
these processes together make up the oxygen cycle. The oxygen cycle is interconnected with
the carbon cycle.

In the simple example of the oxygen cycle shown below, you can see how oxygen is used and
cycled by plants and animals. Plants are the main creators of oxygen in the atmosphere
through the process of photosynthesis. Here the tree uses sunlight and carbon dioxide to
produce energy and releases oxygen. The giraffe breathes in the oxygen and then breathes out
carbon dioxide. The plant can then use this carbon dioxide and the cycle is complete.
Simple diagram of the oxygen cycle

Processes That Use Oxygen

Breathing - The scientific name for breathing is respiration. All animals and plants use up
oxygen when they breathe. They breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide.

Decomposing - When plants and animals die, they decompose. This process uses up oxygen
and releases carbon dioxide.

Rusting - This is also called oxidation. When things rust they use up oxygen.

Combustion - There are three things needed for fire: oxygen, fuel, and heat. Without oxygen
you can't have a fire. When things burn, they use up oxygen and replace it with carbon dioxide.

Processes That Produce Oxygen

Plants - Plants create the majority of the oxygen we breathe through a process called
photosynthesis. In this process plants use carbon dioxide, sunlight, and water to create energy.
In the process they also create oxygen which they release into the air.

Sunlight - Some oxygen is produced when sunlight reacts with water vapor in the atmosphere.

Fun Facts

Even though fish breathe under water they still breathe oxygen. Their gills extract the oxygen
from the water.

There is a lot of oxygen stored up in the oxide minerals of the Earth's crust. However, this
oxygen isn't available for us to breathe.

One of the biggest sources of oxygen is phytoplankton that live near the surface of the ocean.
Phytoplankton are tiny plants, but there are lots of them.
Carbon Cycle

One of the most important elements to life on planet Earth is carbon. All living organisms have
carbon as the basis for life. It is so important that animals are often called "carbon-based" life
forms.

How much carbon is in the human body?

Carbon makes up about 18% of the human body. So if you weigh 100 pounds, your body
contains around 18 pounds of carbon.

The Carbon Cycle

Some carbon atoms are constantly moving around. This is because carbon atoms are used by
all sorts of processes on our planet. Some of these processes put carbon into the atmosphere
(air) and some take it out. The carbon cycle is often very tied in with the oxygen cycle.

Diagram of the Carbon Cycle

Click on picture to see larger view

Taking Carbon out of the Atmosphere

Nature is constantly taking carbon out of the atmosphere. These processes are sometimes
called carbon sinks.

Photosynthesis - Plants use photosynthesis to make energy and grow. They take carbon
dioxide (CO2), sunlight, and water and turn it into oxygen and sugar. Large areas of plants like
the rainforest help to remove lots of carbon from the atmosphere.

The ocean - Ocean water does a lot to remove excess carbon from the atmosphere. Carbon
dioxide in the air reacts with the sea water to make carbonic acid in the ocean. If there is too
much carbonic acid, you may get acid rain, which is not good. However, some carbonic acid is
good as it is used by sea organisms to make their shells. These shells will eventually become
sedimentary rock like limestone.

Moving Carbon into the Atmosphere

At the same time that some processes of nature are removing carbon from the air, other
processes are adding more carbon to the air. These processes are called sources.

Respiration (breathing) - Every time you breathe you turn oxygen into carbon dioxide. This is
true of every animal on Earth.

Decay - When plants and animals die they decay. When this happens, the carbon in their body
will either be released into the atmosphere or stored in ground as fossil fuels.
Combustion (burning) - When plants, trees, or fossil fuels are burned, carbon is released into
the atmosphere.

The Carbon Cycle Balance

Carbon is essential for life and nature does a great job of balancing the carbon available
through the carbon cycle. Carbon is needed in the atmosphere as well because it helps to keep
the Earth warm. Without it we would all be freezing.

How Man Alters the Carbon Cycle

Although nature does a great job in balancing carbon through the carbon cycle, when man gets
involved we can upset the balance. By burning fossil fuels like coal, gas, and oil lots of carbon is
released into the air. Also, cutting down trees for development reduces the amount of plants
available to remove carbon from the air.
DISCOVERY FILE: Food Chains and Food Webs

All animals need energy to run, breathe, and hunt, and they
get this energy by consuming food. Think about what you ate
today: that is helping you walk, think, and read! Food chains
and food webs are similar to each other, but they are not the
same. We will explore the differences here.

A food chain shows a single, connected path of energy flow

through an ecosystem. Some animals only eat plants while
some animals eat other animals. A food chain shows the
different levels of eating within an ecosystem. The arrows
show the flow of energy from one organism to the next. Most
food chains begin with the sun at the bottom. Let’s examine
the example on the right.

There are three types of organisms in a food chain:

producers, consumers and decomposers.

1. Producers. These organisms absorb the sun’s energy and

convert the energy into food for themselves, allowing them to
grow larger, make flowers and fruit, etc. An example of a
producer is a plant, such as the flower in the picture.

2. Consumers. These organisms, mostly animals, can be split

into a few categories:
Primary consumers only eat plants, so they are called herbivores. The primary consumers in
the picture are the bee and grasshopper.

Secondary consumers eat primary consumers. Many secondary consumers also eat plants,
which makes them omnivores (meat and plant eaters). The secondary consumers in the
picture are the wasp and beetle.

Tertiary consumers eat the secondary consumers and are usually carnivores (meat eaters).
The tertiary consumers in the picture are the frog and snake.

Quaternary consumers eat the tertiary consumers and are carnivores. The quaternary
consumer in the picture is the hawk. In this picture, the food chain ends with the hawk, which
claims the title as the top carnivore.

3. Decomposers. These organisms turn dead material By LadyofHats (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
(such as a fallen tree, or a dead hawk) into soil and
recycle nutrients so they can be re-used by producers
to create food. Decomposers are not shown in this picture, but they live underground where
the flower’s roots are. Decomposers include earthworms, small soil beetles, fungi, and
bacteria.

A food web shows how food chains overlap. The

same three types of organisms are in food webs:
producers, consumers and decomposers. Good
food webs should also include the sun as the
initial source of energy. We can get a very good
idea of how plants and animals interact with one
another by looking at, or constructing, a food
web. How is the picture at the right different
from the food chain picture above?

In the picture to the right, there are multiple

lines from one organism to another. We see that
the grass in the bottom right hand corner is
eaten by more than just the grasshopper; it is
also a food source for the rabbit and the deer. In http://www.bigelow.org/edhab/images/food_web.jpg
this food web, we see that there are many top
carnivores, not just one. We can identify three:
the owl, the hawk and the fox. We can also note the owl, the hawk, and the fox are shown as
secondary and tertiary consumers in this food web. The deer is a primary consumer because it
only feeds on plants, which makes it an herbivore. As you can see, food webs are more complex
than food chains, but they represent what goes on in real life much better than a food chain!

An energy pyramid shows how energy moves

throughout an ecosystem. As you move up the
pyramid levels, approximately 90% of the food’s
original energy is lost from level to level because
animals must use their own energy to consume
and digest food. The consumers at the top of the
pyramid do not have as much energy available to
them because their food, another animal, is
simply not very good at converting the food it
eats into energy in its body.

http://www.mlms.logan.k12.ut.us/~mlowe/EnergyPyra
mid.gif
In the picture above, we can see that energy
(shown here as kilocalories (kcal)) is lost as we
move up the pyramid from producer to tertiary consumer. This diagram also gives you an idea
that it takes a lot of plants to support the predators at the top of the pyramid, such as this owl.

Ecological Relationship:

Competition & Predation

Predation is when one organism eats another organism to obtain nutrients. The organism that
is eaten is called the prey. Examples of predation are owls that eat mice, and lions that eat
gazelles. Competition is when individuals or populations compete for the same resource, and
can occur within or between species. When organisms compete for a resource (such as food or
building materials) it is called consumptive or exploitative competition. When they compete
for territory, it is called interference competition. When they compete for new territory by
arriving there first, it is called preemptive competition. An example is lions and hyenas that
compete for prey.

Commensalism

Commensalism is a relationship in which one organism benefits while the other is neither
helped nor harmed. Examples are barnacles that grow on whales and other marine animals.
The whale gains no benefit from the barnacle, but the barnacles gain mobility, which helps
them evade predators, and are exposed to more diverse feeding opportunities. There are four
basic types of commensal relationships. Chemical commensalism occurs when one bacteria
produces a chemical that sustains another bacteria. Inquilinism is when one organism lives in
the nest, burrow, or dwelling place of another species. Metabiosis is commensalism in which
one species is dependent on the other for survival. Phoresy is when one organism temporarily
attaches to another organism for the purposes of transportation.

Parasitism

Parasitism is a relationship in which one organism benefits and the other organism is harmed,
but not always killed. The organism that benefits is called the parasite, and the one that is
harmed is the host. Parasitism is different from parasitoidism, which is when the host is
always killed, such as when one organism lays its egg inside another organism that is later
eaten by the hatchlings. Parasites can be ectoparasites -- such as ticks, fleas, and leeches -- that
live on the surface of the host. Parasites can also be endoparasites -- such as intestinal worms
– that live inside the host. Endoparasites can be further categorized into intercellular
parasites, that live in the space between cells, or intracellular parasites, which live inside of
cells. There is also something called hyperparasitism, which is when a parasite is infected by
another parasite, such as a microorganism living in a flea, which lives on a dog. Lastly, a
relationship called social parasitism is exemplified by an ant species that does not have
worker ants, living among another ant species that do, by using the host species’ workers.

Mutualism

Mutualism is a relationship in which both species benefit. Mutualistic interaction patterns

occur in three forms. Obligate mutualism is when one species cannot survive apart from the
other. Diffusive mutualism is when one organism can live with more than one partner.
Facultative mutualism is when one species can survive on its own under certain conditions. On
top of these, mutualistic relationships have three general purposes. Trophic mutualism is
exemplified in lichens, which consist of fungi and either algae or cyanobacteria. The fungi's
partners provide sugar from photosynthesis and the fungi provide nutrients from digesting
rock. Defensive mutualism is when one organism provides protection from predators while
the other provides food or shelter: an example is ants and aphids. Dispersive mutualism is
when one species receives food in return for transporting the pollen of the other organism,
which occurs between bees and flowers.