This unit was about ecology. In ecology which is the study of interactions between organisms and their environment, we learned about the basics of ecology which includes the big ideas in ecology, the habitat, abiotic and biotic factors, and levels of organization. The big ideas in ecology include equilibrium which is when environments are heathiest when they are in balance and interdependence which is when all living things depend on another for survival. The types of habitats include the habitat which is all aspects of an area which the organism lives in which includes the biotic and abiotic factors. A niche includes all of the factors that a species needs to survive. The levels of organization is the organism, population, community, ecosystem, biome and biosphere. we learned about food chains and food webs. It includes producers and consumers that includes organisms that can get their food or produce it. The four types of animals are herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and detritivore. A food chain shows how each organism get its energy and the food web is more accurate and shows that organisms can eat more than one thing. Trophic levels are levels in a food chin based on what each organism eats.
In the ecosystem energy vodcast, we learned about the units of energy which includes biomass which is a method of measuring energy which is measured in Joules. We learned about the energy pyramids which are pyramids shown to show how energy is transferred. The 10% rule is a rule that states that of the energy produced, 10% of it is going to the next level of the energy pyramid. If only 10% of energy is passed on, less and less energy is available for the top consumers. This results in fewer consumers and smaller populations at higher levels in the pyramid. We learned about population Ecology. It's the study of populations in relation to the environment. It includes the density and the dispersion of a population. Population Ecology includes the factors that affect populations which in cludes immigration and emmigration, births, deaths, disease, predators, abiotic factors , and population density and dispersion. It also includes exponential growth which is common among bacteria and viruses, cannot be sustained, and has a carrying capacity. A carrying capacity is the maximum population size that the environment can support. Lastly, population ecology includes the logistic growth model which is the rate of increase that slows as the carrying capacity is reached. Populations go through boom cycles. Also in population ecology, it includes human population. It's increased slowly until 1650 and grows exponentially. The carrying capacity on Earth is uncertain and has an average estimate of 10-15 billion.
We learned about Ecosystem recycling. It includes succession, order of succession, and nutrient cycles. Sucession includes ecological and primary. Ecological sucession is the sequence of community and ecosystem change and primary sucession occurs where succession begins with no soil. The order of succession is pioneer species, intermediate species, and climax communities. Pioneer species is grasses, lichens, and mosses. Intermediate species includes shrubs and trees. A climax community includes intermediate species reaches full maturity. Nutrient cycles include the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, water cycle and phosphorous cycle. We learned about Ecosystem health. It includes biodiversity, health, and caring for others lives. Biodiversity includes genetic diversity includes all of the different genes within a population and between different populatiions. Species diversity is a variety of species in an ecosystem or throughout the biosphere. Ecosystem diversity is the different types of ecosystems throughout the planet. Healthy facts include the discovery of millions of species extinct on Earth and other statistics that relate to the species and living things. Lives can be saved by medicines and ecosystem services. The causes of specie lost is by losing their habitat, introducing new species and overexploitation. Lastly, we learned about how to protect living things. We can do many things to save living things from dying. We can identify hot spots, protect what we have, planning smart to sustain populations, restoring populations from disturbances that have been made, and thinking globally and making better decisions to save wildlife.
I want to learn more about the ecosystem and why people throw plastics everywhere without knowing that organisms live in the area. I wonder why species are moved frequently to other habitats that they do not recognize well.
In the conservation biologist project, I learned methods on how to work well with groups. I learned to be more assertive to others to a task accomplished without frequent conflicts with other group members. The things that went well was getting the job done. My group was able to get the project done within the due date. Even though during the project, we lost a group member. We were able to get the job done without our missing group without hitting any obstacles along the way. The collaboration was great as it helped me work with groups in a more effective way.
