Nutrient Cycles

The water/Hydrologic Cycle Where does Water

get ‘stored’? How does water

move around the world?

The Oxygen Cycle Where is Oxygen

stored? What forms does it take?

How does oxygen move?

The Carbon Cycle Carbon moves in many

ways, the biggest is through CO2

Where does CO2 come from?

Where does it go? How else does carbon

move, and where is it stored?

The Nitrogen CycleNitrogen Cycles are bikes the use

Nitrous Oxide to shoot flames, go fast, and be awesome.

Batman Rides a Nitrogen Cycle.Batman is awesome.

The Nitrogen Cycle Where is the the

main storage of nitrogen?

How does nitrogen become useable by organisms?

Nitrogen fixing/denitrifying bacteria and plants Nodules, competition, mutualisms

Trees want Nitrogen,There are a few kinds of bacteria that interact with N Nitrogen FixersDenitrifiers (they use the same nitrogen as plants)

Plants and Denitrifiers both want the same nitrogen made by the nitrogen fixers – what kind of interaction is this?

Plants cheat- they make ‘homes’ for the nitrogen fixing bacteria in their roots called ‘nodules’ – what kind of interaction is this?

The Cycle of Cycles The cycle depends on food chains Producers and Consumers keep the cycle moving

Food Chains in the Carbon and Nitrogen CyclesAre Carbon and Nitrogen

found in humans/ animals/ plants?

As shown before, nutrients move up food chains (and trophic levels)

Question: If you only eat meat, That means you eat vegetables. How is this true?

Why do we even need to eat vegetables?

Recapin’ the Cycles How are the carbon and oxygen cycles

linked? What is the sun’s role in the oxygen,

water and carbon cycles? How do trophic levels and food webs

play into the various cycles? How do nutrients move between

inorganic and organic stores?

The Pyramids How is a pyramid

built? How many bricks are

at the top? At the bottom? In the middle?

How hard was the pyramid to build: at the bottom, middle top?

Energy Pyramids The pyramids were

designed as energy capture devices: they store energy from lightning strikes and sunlight as “Energon”

When enough energy has been stored in an Energy Pyramid, it glows and can be used to send an “Energon Beacon” to the aliens who build the pyramids

The Dangers of Energy Pyramids

Fully charged energy pyramids emit high levels of E – Ray Radiation.

This type of radiation can damage the neuropathways of the brain over time, so it is important to shield the brain with protective material

The Real Energy Pyramids Energy pyramids are used to describe the flow of chemical energy in an ecosystem. They divide organisms into different groups based on their placement in trophic levels These are useful for understanding populations and how they change – Think back to your game of “oh deer” Why were there so few wolves?

Energy FlowEnergy flows

through a pyramid

At each step, energy is lost through work as heat

What is the other source of energy in an ecosystem?

The 10 x energy loss rule For each trophic level, 90% of the

energy of the previous level is lost (due to work, loss by heat etc these are the energy costs of living and hunting)

This is what limits the size of ecosystems, populations, and the number of trophic levels that can exist

How many does it take? 1000 blades of grass

producers Primary consumers need

10 blades of grass to live 100 primary consumers Secondary consumers

need 10 primary consumers to live

10 secondary consumers Tertiary or Apex

predators need 10 secondary consumers to live

There can only be 1 Apex Predator

Energy and Matter We need both energy and matter

(nutrients) to live These two resources move in different

ways – what are those ways? Energy flows – it is used then lost and

must be remade/ recaptured by producers Matter Cycles – It is used and moves up

the food chain, and then recycled Why?

Potato Power Plants? Our lights are powered by plants, our

cars, our heat comes from plants. How is this true?

Biomass Pyramids These are the same idea as Energy

Pyramids As you move up, mass is lost Think of our small ecosystem example –

How much does the Owl require to live? How much do all of these organisms

weigh? Does it weigh as much as all of the

sources of energy it had to eat?

Bio-Accumulation If carbon and nitrogen move up the food

chain, what else does? Toxins also move up food chains How does this affect organisms higher

on food chains/trophic levels? Look back to the simple ecosystem and

the Owl

Bio-Accumulation Pyramid

Toxins and heavy metal levels get higher as we go up the pyramid. Higher trophic levels have higher concentrations of toxins.

Why bio accumulate? Toxins and heavy metals (mercury,

DDT, Lead, Uranium etc) cannot be broken down by biological systems.

When organisms are exposed/eat these materials, they stay in their bodies because they cant break it down or pass it as waste

When they are eaten by a predator, the predator ingests the toxin and this progresses up the food chain/ trophic levels