In this unit, we learned about Ecology, the study of interactions between organisms and their environment, and its' basics: the idea of Homeostasis/Equilibrium, which is that like the body environments are healthiest when they're in balance, and the idea of Interdependence, when all living things are dependent on each other, and abiotic(nonliving) factors for survival. In a ecosystem, there are habitats and their niches, which includes all factors that species need to survive, stay healthy, and reproduce. We also went through the different Levels of Organization on Earth: Organism, an individual living thing, Population, group of the same species that live in 1 area, Community, group of different species that live together in 1 area, Ecoystem, includes all abiotic and biotic factors, and the Biome/Biosphere, which is a large are of the world that's made of several ecosystems. In this world, animals, called Consumers aka Heterotrophs, compete with each other for food/energy(except for Producers/Autotrophs), Food Chains and Food Webs show this. Food Chains show how each organisms gets its energy; in the chain, the arrow points to the one getting energy. There are different levels in a Food Chain, called Trophic levels, that are based on what something eats. The 5 Trophic levels are (from lowest to highest): Primary Producer, Primary Consumer, Secondary Consumer, Tertiary Consumer, and Quaternary Consumer. There are not only different level Consumers, there are also different type of Consumers: Herbivores(plant eaters), Carnivores(meat eaters), Omnivore(everything eaters), and Detritivore/Decomposers (dead/decaying eaters). In comparison to Food Chains, Food Webs are more accurate and most of the animals in Food Webs eat more than 1 thing. Relating to Ecosystem Energy, we also learned about the transfer of Energy. We learned the Unit of Energy: Biomass, which is a method of measuring energy and is the total dry mass (weight) of organisms in a given area. Biomass is measured in calories (or Joules) and it's without water because water has no energy. The energy is stored in bands of cellulose; as consumers eat, they transform energy, passing on only 10% to the next level. Very little stays in the organism, 90% is lost as waste (such as heat). Energy being transformed is shown through Energy Pyramids. There is also the Population Pyramid which shows the effect of the 10% Rule: If only 10% of energy is passed on, less and less energy is available for top level consumers. This results in having fewer consumers and smaller populations at higher levels. Coming from the Population Pyramid, Population Ecology, the study of population relation to the environment, was also went through. It includes density, the # of individuals per unit area/volume, and dispersion, the pattern of spacing through individuals within bounds boundaries of population. There are also certain factors that affect population, including immigration, influence of new individuals from other areas, and emigration, which is movement leaving. Births and Deaths are also large factors that affect the population. There's also Exponential Growth, when there's lots of growth over a short time, which is something we humans are going through. In Ecosystem recycling, there is Succession, three types: Ecological succession, the sequence of community and ecosystem changes after a disturbance, Primary succession, when succession begins with no soil to start with, and Secondary succession, which begins in an area where soil remains after a disturbance. In Succession, there's an order: it begins with Pioneer species to Intermediate species than finally to the Climax community. In an Ecosystem, the producers are critical, but they're also limited by the amount of nutrients they have. No nutrients mean no energy produced. And if there's no producers, then there's no carbon energy for life. Alongside with producers, decomposers are also critical. The four nutrients are Water, Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorous and without their cycles there wouldn't be any in the atmosphere. There's also the health of an Ecosystem, which includes it's loss (endangered/threatened species, mass extinctions, etc.) , it's gains (emigration, introduced/exotic species, etc), and over exploitation and change in climate. Last and not least, we also learned how we could help the planet be better, by identifying the problem(s), solving/reducing the problem(s), and spreading awareness to everyone.
I don't think I have any unanswered questions but I would like to learn more about the different types of succession and I would like to see more examples regarding them. I wonder when our planet will become a disastrous place that we can no longer survive in and how it became to be that (if it was because of us).
The Conservation Biologist Project actually went better than I thought it was going to go. A lot of things went well: all my team members cooperated, we each completed our parts in time, and we each tried to help each other out as much as possible. There were barely, if not any, arguing and I think the collaboration went really well. I sincerely think that we all did a good job and nothing really went badly, except for some technical issues at the end. I didn't really learn anything, I think the main reason why the collaboration was so good was because we each were willing to put in as much effort as we can in this project. Through the self assessment test, I found out that my dominant conflict style is aggressiveness. When people are rude or sarcastic toward me, I tend to do it back. I also consider myself pretty heated since little things can easily aggravate me. I'm also super short-tempered and snappy when I'm under stress. In order to be more assertive, I need to be more direct and stop letting things I disagree with pass and let my voice be heard.
