ECOLOGY: THE TEST

In science class, the past unit we have been working on is ecology. Our teacher taught us everything from food webs, to predator and prey, to symbiosis. We learned about energy flow through an ecosystem and created energy pyramids. With everything that was taught to us, I pondered the thought of what more can I learn? I discovered that when energy flows through an ecosystem, each organism loses 90% of it's energy to heat. Therefore it gives only 10% of it's energy to the organism which consumes or decomposes it. Look at the figure below:

Notice how the sun is losing 90% of it's energy to heat, and is only giving 10% to the producer. This is why the lower in the food pyrimid, the more energy it recieves. Not only did I learn more about the energy flow, but I saw a big food web. In this food web, I was able to notify the who got the least energy.

The Decayed Material has the most energy, whilst the Kookaburra and Manned Geese have the least amount. I infer that since humans are at the top of the food web, they are the organisms with the least energy. On a food pyrimid, there are many different levels. They start with the first trophic level, which includes, autotrophs. There are two kinds of autotrophs in this level. They are photoautotrophs(which includes plants), and also chemoautotrophs, which is bacteria. Then there is the second trophic level. These include herbivores and decomposers. Also know as primary consumers. The third trophic level includes the primary carnivores and secondary consumers. These are the organisms who eat the herbivores. The fourth trophic level includes the secondary carnivores, and the tertiary consumers. These are the organisms who eat other carnivores.

sources:

http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/curr/Science/sciber00/8th/energy/sciber/ecosys.htm

http://arnica.csustan.edu/boty1050/Ecology/ecosystems.htm

Fungi and Squash: The Parasitic Relationship

As you may infer from my title, this blog post is about Fungi and Squash. You also may see that this is a parasitic relationship. I had to do a report on a symbiotic relationship in science class. I had to take a photograph of a parasitic, commensal, or mutualistic relationship in our area. I also had to write a paragraph about the symbiotic relationship of my choice and how it is important to the ecosystem. I was so interested in this subject that I decided to do some extra research on my own! For instance, I had no idea that that my decorative winter vegetable could be giving back to the earth it came from. That's because the fungi decomposes the squash, which makes the squash give minerals and vitamins back to the earth, making other squash and trees and plants grow to be big some day.

You may wonder why the fungi grows on random surfaces. Well, when, lets say a leaf, contains too much nitrogen, the fungi will grow until it decomposes the leaf. But before we get into the main swing of things, did you realize that there are many processes to decomposition. First, when rain water comes, it will leach the leaf, which will make it easier to decompose. The same thing happens to the squash. Since the area I live in is very wet, it was easier for the fungi to be created. After the leaching, the fungi grows, decomposing the squash. I also discovered that the more oxygen uptake, the longer it takes to decompose. Personally, I always thought that my squash just decided to rot away on it's own, now I know the truth! Who knew decomposition could be such a complex topic?