# data[].attributes.body
Five things I have learned:
1. A producer is an organism that uses the sun to generate energy!
2. A producer is also known as a autotroph
3. Most of the energy that powers ecosystems come from the sun
4. Plants absorb energy directly from the sun
5. Photosynthesis is act of converting solar energy to carbon dioxide

# data[].attributes.body
1. Carnivores consume other consumers
2. Scavangers eat dead animals
3. All species in an ecosystem are connected to each-other
4. Herbivores comsume producers
5. Food chains help us see the sequence of consumption between organisms

# data[].attributes.body
1. Agal Bloom is the rapid production of algae in an area of water
2. Algae bloom is a human impact on the phosphorus cycle
3. The combustion of fossil fuels is a human impact on the carbon cycle
4. Transpiration is the release of water from leaves during photosynthesis
5. Transpiration is a human impact on the hydrologic cycle

# data[].attributes.body
1. Photosynthesis captures energy
2. Respiration releases energy
3. cellular respiration is when cells obtain energy from chemical compounds
4. aerobic respiration is when cells convert glucose and oxygen into energy, carbon dioxide, and water
5. anaerobic respiration is the same as aerobic respiration but done without oxygen

# data[].attributes.body
1. Not all ecosystems have the same level of success
2. Sometimes ecosystems can not support the overflow of life and fail
3. There are many trophic levels which are the levels of organisms comunimg eachother
4. Producers make their own food through photsynthisis
5. consumers must get their energy from consuming other organisms

# data[].attributes.body
1. aerobic respiration is the opposite of photosynthesis as cells convert glucose and oxygen into energy, co2 and water while photosynthesis converts co2 and water into energy that can be used and glucose as well as oxygen
2. green producers create their own food while heterotrophs or consumers hunt or consume food
3. consumers are at the top of the food chain while producers are at the bottom due to the truths from number 2
4. food webs and food chains are different from each other! food webs model how energy moves through the trophic levels while food chains simply show the separation of the trophic levels
5. scavengers eat dead animals for consumption like vultures making their job easier as they do not necessarily have to hunt

# data[].attributes.body
1. net primary productivity - gross primary productivity = respiration by consumers
2. The above equation is used to determine the amount of CO2 used in photosynthesis, this is essential to allow scientists to measure the productivity of an ecosystem
3. Biomass is the total mass of all living mass in a specific area and standing crop is the amount of biomass present in an ecosystem at one specific time
4. How is this helpful? It allows measurements to be taken in order to see the exact efficiency of the ecosystem
5. Trophic levels can be divided by the trophic biomass (basically the amount of energy used in each level which impacts the amount of food needed to be used)

# data[].attributes.body
1. biogeochemical cycles is basically the movement of matter within and between ecosystems. It is a very broad term to describe the specific complex cycles this term covers.
2. hydrological cycles are encompased when describing ecosystem ecology specifically because they discuss the characteristics and the relationships between the biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem
3. hydrological systems are important because many elements are carried to the ocean or taken up by organisms in dissolved form; water places a huge part in biological systems
4. the carbon cycle moves carbon between air, water, and land; we must examine the flows that move carbon like photosynthesis and the extraction and combustion of carbon
5. combustion occurs in fossil fuels by humans or naturally by volcanos who release it into the air

# data[].attributes.body
1. a limiting nutrient is a nutrient required for the growth of an organism but availabe in a lower quantity than other nutrients (Oh Deer Simulation)
2.  the nitrogen cycle includes many chemical transformations such as nitrification as it goes throughout the process
3. leaching is when dissolved molecules are transported through the soil via ground water (SEEN IN LANDFILLS AS LEACHATE?)
4.  the phosphorous cycle has impacts on sedimentation and weathering
5. nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorous undergo a process of assimilation, a similar step in each

# data[].attributes.body
1. algal bloom is a rapid increase in algal population of a water way and is in part due to the human affects on the phosphorous cycle
2. It would be interesting to see what a different world we would be living in if humans weren't around as we impact these sensitive cycles in such large ways.
3. algal blooms cause water to become hypoxic which means low in oxygen
4. the sulfur cycle includes volcanic activity in its ranks
5. CO2 affects many of these cycles beyond the carbon cycle such as the sulfur cycle- very interesting as to how this is so impactful on our ecosystem.

# data[].attributes.body
1. The amount of biomass present in an ecosystem is called standing crop
2.the proportion of consumed energy that can be passed from one trophic level to another is called ecological efficency
3. (Carbon Cycle)decomposers in the ground release that carbon at roughly the same rate that it was added
4.Calcium, magnesium, and potassium play important parts in regulating cellular processes and in transmitting signals between cells
5. Not all of the energy contained in a particular trophic level is in a usable form

# data[].attributes.body
1. Producers use the glucose they produce by photosynethesisto store energy and to build structures such as leaves stems, and roots
2.  Carnivores who eat primary consumers are called secondary consumers
3. Carnivores who eat secondary consumers are called tertiary consumers
4. many producers carry out aerobic respiration in order to fuel their metabolism and growth
5. overall, producers photosynthesize more than they respire and the net effect is an excess amount of oxygen released into the air and an excess of carbon is stored in the tissues of producers

# data[].attributes.body
1. The resistance of an ecosystem is the measure of how much a disturbance can affect the flows of energy and matter
2.AN ecosystem's resilience often depends on specific interactions of the biogeochemical and hydrologic cycles
3. growing interest in restoring damaged ecosystems has led to the creation of a new discipline called restoration ecology
4. A watershed is all of the land in a given landscape that drains into a particular stream, river, or wetland
5.Scients measure precipitation throughout each watershed , and a stream gauge at the bottom of the main stream that drains analogs them to measure the amounts of water and nutrients leaving the system

# data[].attributes.body
1. Not all animals fit nicely into a single trophic level- omnivores operate on several levels
2.Detrivoresbreak down dead tissues and waste products into smaller products
3. the smaller products are then used by decomposers to complete the breakdown by converting organic matter into small electrons and molecules that can be recycled into the earth
4. The amount of energy available to an ecosystems determines how much life the ecosystem can support
5. In a lake, most of the solar energy is lost from the ecosystem as heat that returns to the atmosphere

# data[].attributes.body
1.As forests and grasslands grow, large amounts of nutrients accumulate in the vegetation and in the soil
2. the growth of forests allows the terrestrial landscape to accumulate nutrients that would otherwise cycle out into the ocean
3. Adding water or phosphorous, will not improve plant growth in nitrogen-poor soil
4.transpiration- heat from the sun cause water to evaporation from pools of water and provides the energy necessary for photosynthesis , during which plants release water from their leaves into the atmosphere
5. consumers, or heterotrophs are incapable of photosynthesis and must obtain their energy by consuming other organisms

# data[].attributes.body
1 Characteristics of ecosystems are based on climate
2 The biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem provide the boundaries that distinguish one ecosystem from another
3 Determining where one ecosystem ends and another begins is difficult
4 The boundaries of some managed ecosystems, such as national parks, are set according to administrative rather than scientific criteria
5 Yellowstone National Park was once managed as its own ecosystem until scientists began to realize that many species of conservation interest spent time both inside and outside the park

# data[].attributes.body
1 Ecologists study the processes that move energy and matter within an ecosystem
2 Nearly all of the energy that powers ecosystems comes from the Sun as solar energy
3 Plants, algae, and some bacteria that use the Sun’s energy to produce usable forms of energy are called producers, or autotrophs
4 Producers use the glucose they produce by photosynthesis to store energy and to build structures such as leaves, stems, and roots
5 Other organisms, such as the herbivores on the Serengeti Plain, eat the tissues of producers and gain energy from the chemical energy contained in those tissues

# data[].attributes.body
1 Consumers are incapable of photosynthesis and must obtain their energy by consuming other organisms
2 Consumers that eat producers are called herbivores or primary consumers
3  Consumers that eat other consumers are called carnivores
4 The successive levels of organisms consuming one another are known as trophic levels
5 The sequence of consumption from producers through tertiary consumers is known as a food chain, where energy moves from one trophic level to the next

# data[].attributes.body
1 Species in natural ecosystems are rarely connected in such a simple, linear fashion. A more realistic type of model is known as a food web
2 A food web is a complex model of how energy and matter move through trophic levels
3 All species in an ecosystem are connected to one another
4 Not all organisms fit neatly into a single trophic level. Some organisms, called omnivores, operate at several trophic levels
5 Each trophic level eventually produces dead individuals and waste products. Three groups of organisms feed on this dead organic matter: scavengers, detritivores, and decomposers

# data[].attributes.body
1 The amount of energy available in an ecosystem determines how much life the ecosystem can support
2 To understand where the energy in an ecosystem comes from and how it is transferred through food webs, environmental scientists measure the ecosystem’s productivity
3 The gross primary productivity (GPP) of the ecosystem is a measure of the total amount of solar energy that the producers in the system capture via photosynthesis over a given amount of time
4 GPP is essentially a measure of how much photosynthesis is occurring over some amount of time. Determining GPP is a challenge for scientists because a plant rarely photosynthesizes without simultaneously respiring
5 The NPP of ecosystems ranges from 25 to 50 percent of GPP, or as little as 0.25 percent of the solar energy striking the plant

# data[].attributes.body
> all the components of an ecosystem are related
> different climates create different ecosystems
> some ecosystems have well-defined boundaries & some do not
> biosphere:: combination of all ecosystems on earth
> nearly all the energy that powers ecosystems comes from the sun as solar energy
> food web: complex model of how energy and matter move through trophic levels
> all species in an ecosystem are connected
> amount of energy in an ecosystem determines how much life the ecosystem can support

# data[].attributes.body
> producers use photosynthesis to store energy and build structures
> cellular respiration: process by which cells unlock the energy of chemical compounds
> aerobic respiration: opposite of photosynthesis
> anaerobic respiration: process by which cells convert glucose into energy in the absence of oxygen.
> many producers both produce and consume oxygen through aerobic respiration
> overall, producers photosynthesize more than they respire

# data[].attributes.body
> GPP: gross primary productivity
> NPP: net primary productivity
> some ecosystems are more efficient than others
> producers grow best in ecosystems with plenty of sunlight, water, and nutrients
> measuring NPP measures change in an ecosystem
> NPP establishes the rate at which biomass is produced over a given amount of time
> ecological efficiency: proportion of consumed energy that can be passed from one trophic level to another
> cycles in ecosystems known as biogeochemical cycles
> many kinds of cycles throughout ecosystems

# data[].attributes.body
> hydrologic cycle: movement of water through the biosphere
> instrumental in the cycling of elements
> human activities can alter the hydrologic cycle
> clear-cutting a mountain can lead to erosion and flooding
> humans also alter the cycle when they redirect water for access and drinking water sources
> combustion of fossil fuels interrupts the carbon cycle
> tree harvesting also affects the carbon cycle
> trees store a large amount of carbon in their wood
> macronutrients: six key elements that are needed by organisms in relatively large amounts
> nitrogen cycle is the movement of nitrogen around the biosphere

# data[].attributes.body
> disturbance: events that result in changes in population size or community composition
> not every ecosystem disturbance is a disaster
> resistance: measure of how much a disturbance can affect the flows of energy & matter
> high resistance: influences populations & communities, but has no effect on the overall flows of energy and matter.
> resilience: the rate at which an ecosystem returns to its original state after a  disturbance

# data[].attributes.body
1. Characteristics of any ecosystem = depend on climate
2. Water can be immeasurable (deserts) or a defining feature in an ecosystem (lakes/oceans)
3.Regions with greater quantities of water in soil can support trees-regions with less water can support only grasses
4. The biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem provide the boundaries that distinguish one ecosystem from another
5. Some ecosystems have boundaries, while some do not

# data[].attributes.body
1.Atmosphere: a thin spherical envelope of gases surrounding the earth's surface.
2. biogeochemical cycle=
(literally, life-earth-chemical cycles) or nutrient cycles—prime examples of one of the four scientific principles of sustainability
3. biomass= the dry weight of all organic matter contained in its organisms.
4.biomes= large regions such as forests, deserts, and grasslands, with distinct climates and certain species (especially vegetation) adapted to them.
5.cells= the smallest and most fundamental structural and functional units of life

# data[].attributes.body
1.Detritus feeders, or detritivores, feed on the wastes or dead bodies of other organisms
2. The percentage of usable chemical energy transferred as biomass from one trophic level to the next is called ecological efficiency.
3.trophosphere= a thin spherical envelope of gases surrounding the earth's surface
4. cellular respiration=The process by which cells convert glucose and oxygen into energy, carbon dioxide, and water.
5.trophic levels= Levels in the feeding structure of organisms.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Food web = A complex model of how energy and matter move between trophic levels.
2. NPP = The energy captured by producers in an ecosystem minus the energy producers respire.
3. transpiration= The release of water from leaves during photosynthesis.
4. The six key elements that organisms need: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur.
5. leaching =The transportation of dissolved molecules through the soil via groundwater.

# data[].attributes.body
1. watershed=All land in a given landscape that drains into a particular stream, river, lake, or wetland.
2.intermediate disturbance hypothesis= The hypothesis that ecosystems experiencing intermediate levels of disturbance are more diverse than those with high or low disturbance levels.
3. intrinsic value (scientific definition)
Value of an organism, species, ecosystem, or the earth's biodiversity based on its existence, regardless of whether it has any usefulness to us.
4. The most important element in living organisms is carbon
5. evapotranspiration=The combined amount of evaporation and transpiration.