01:119:115 Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Detritivore, Herbivore, Autotroph
13 Jul 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Ecosystem = all living organisms in a community + the abiotic factors, they interact with. Range from a microcosm (little world), to a large area such as a lake or island. Ecosystem"s dynamics involve two main processes: energy flow is linear flows in a one-way direction through an ecosystem, all materials vital to life are recycled. Ecologists study the transformations of energy and matter within ecosystems. Tuesday, december 2, 2014: energy flow: conservation of energy, first law of thermodynamics = energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. Energy enters ecosystem as solar radiation producers trap ~ 1% of solar energy which reaches earth photosynthesis stored as chemical energy. Cellular respiration breaks molecules energy (in form of atp) used to do work: second law of thermodynamics = every exchange of energy increases the entropy of the universe. In an ecosystem, energy conversions not completely efficient. Some energy always lost as heat escapes into space.
