11:375:101 Lecture 7: Ecosystems & Cycles
30 Jan 2019
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Document Summary
70% of the earth"s surface is salt water (not drinkable) One way flow of high-quality energy (the sun) Gravity keeps the atmosphere near the planet. Keeps the oxygen from disappearing into outer space. The sun is important to maintain a warm planet, to harbor life. Ecology- science of organism"s interactions with each other and their nonliving environment. Cell is the fundamental structural and functional unit of life. First law of ecology: everything is connected to everything else. Producers: produce the food they need using the energy captured from the environment (plants harness energy from the sun) Bark and leaves all the mass in a tree comes from co2. Photosynthesis takes a huge amount of energy from the plant. 90% of the carbon that is fixed into glucose is respired and used into energy. Consumers obtain their food by consuming other food. Heterotrophs/ organotrophs: energy and carbon come from organic material.
