BIOLOGY 1M03 Chapter Notes - Chapter 54: Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, Biogeochemical Cycle, Primary Production
15 May 2017
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Document Summary
An ecosystem consist of organisms that live in an area together with their physical, or abiotic, environment. An ecosystem differs from a community because ecosystems are composed of multiple communities along with their chemical and physical environments. A number of communities within a lake: lake bottom, surface, shallow water. Adjacent ecosystems (river, lake, surrounding forest) can be distinguished because their energy and nutrient flows are self-contained. Occasionally, energy and nutrients can also be transferred between ecosystems. Ecosystems have four components: the abiotic environment, primary producers, consumers, decomposers. Four components are linked by a flow of energy. A primary producer is an autotroph, meaning an organism that can synthesize its own food from inorganic sources. Most primary producers use solar energy to manufacture their own food via photosynthesis. In some ecosystems, bacteria use chemical energy contained in inorganic compounds such as hydrogen, methane or hydrogen sulphide to make food.
