Unit 7 Reflection

In this unit we learned about ecology. We studied the themes of interdependence, when organisms relay on each other, homeostasis, when everything is in balance, and cause and effect. We first learned about the basics of ecology. Ecology is the study of interactions between organisms and their environment. A habitat includes all aspects of the are in which an organism lives. A niche includes all of the factors that a species needs to survive, stay healthy, and reproduce. A habitat is different from a niche since a habitat includes everything, while a niche is only the essentials an organism needs to survive, stay healthy, and reproduce. A biotic factor are living things (plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, etc.) , while abiotic are non-living things (air, temperature, light, soil etc.).

Next, we studied food chains and food webs.A food chain show how each organism gets energy. Trophic levels are levels in a food chain based on what something eats. A food web is the same as a food chain but it allows to show one animal eating several different types of organisms.  The different types of organisms are autorophs/producers, which make their own energy, while hetertrohps/consumers get their energy from eating other organisms.


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Food_chain.png

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chesapeake_Waterbird_Food_Web.jpg

Then we studied the transfer of energy through an ecosystem. Biomass is the method of measuring energy. It is the total dry mass of an organism in a given area, measured in calories, and doesn't include water since water has no energy. Energy pyramids show how energy is transferred, which goes from producers to top level consumers. All energy comes from the sun originally. The 10% rule states that of the energy produced, only 10% of it gets passed on to the next trophic level since the rest of it is lost as waste. The population pyramid shows how much of a certain species there is on each trohpic level. Because of the 10% rule, that means there's less and less consumers as you move up trophic levels since the energy decreases by 90%as you move up a trophic level. This means as you move up trophic levels, there will be less organisms. 

After, we studied population ecology, which is the study of populations in relation to the environment. It includes density, the number of individuals per unit area of volume, and dispersion, the pattern of spacing among individuals within the boundaries of a population. Some factors that affect population are immigration, when there is an influx of new individuals from other ares, emigration, when there is a movement of individuals out of the population, birth, death, disease, predators, when abiotic factors start to run low, and population density and dispersion increases, intensifying competition for resources and results in a low birth rate. There are two different types of growths, exponential growth and logistic growth. Exponential growth is when a species keeps growing without stop and passes the carrying capacity often. Carrying capacity is the maximum population size an environment can support. Logsitic growth is when a population goes over the carrying capacity, but then later it goes below, and so on. Boom and bust is an example of cause and effect. This happens when two species are dependent on each other. So when one of the species population increases or booms, so does the other population and vise vesra.

Blue- Exponential. Green- Logistic

After, we studied ecosystem cycles. We first learned about the cycle of succession, which is when an ecosystem is destroyed by a fire or some other natural disaster and starts over. Primary succession is when an ecosystem starts over with no soil and secondary succession is when an ecosystem with soil already there. Then pioneer species, which are small plants, start to appear. Then bigger plant species, and finally, animals. Another cycle we studied was the water cycle, which transfers water through environments through condescension, precipitation, surface runoff, collection, storage, and evaporation. The carbon cycle we studied too. It's transferred from oxygen and glucose, cellular respiration, through engines, carbon dioxide, and photosynthesis. The nitrogen cycle was more complicated.  There were several cycles in one. One of these was dead organisms, bacteria, fungi, and worms, usable nitrogen, plants, animals, and feces and urine. The last cycle we studied was the phosphorus cycle. Phosphorus is mostly found in soil. Most ecosystems are limited to phosphorus since no new phosphorus can be created.

Second to last, we studied ecosystem health.  The ecosystem's health depends on a lot of things, one being biodiversity. Biodiversity means the total number of species in an ecosystem. It goes from genetic diversity, all the different genes within a population and between populations. species diversity, the variety of specie in an ecosystem, and ecosystem diversity, the different types of ecosystems throughout the planet. Now somethings that threaten ecosystems are habitat loss, introducing exotic species to a new ecosystem, which they can take over and throw off balance, over exploitation, which is when we use up one resource so quickly that the amount taken can't rebound back, and climate change. This causes the endangerment of species, the ecosystem, and biosphere. But this may not seem like a big deal. But 25% of our prescription medicines contain substances from plants, and the ecosystem helps sustain human life through the purification of water and air,, and the cycles of nutrients.

Lastly, we studied how we can conserve the environment, We can do this by protecting hot spots, which is an area with high biodiversity, conserving what we still have, planning smart so that we don't lose a lot of habitat for species, and restoring habitats. To protect the environment yourself, you can reduce your carbon footprint, spread the word about the issues in the current world, spending wisely, and not letting the size of the problem intimidate you.

I want to learn more about how the biosphere has been affected by humans throughout time and how we can let other knows about the issues. I wonder about if we can really save the biospherenand what we will have to do to do so.

For our conservation biologist project, I think my group and I worked together well. When we hit problems, like being off task, we got behind everyone else, which was an issue. Although we were off task sometimes, we finished what we needed to finish and completed the project on time. Through this experience, I learned how to work with new people.

My dominant conflict style is passive, although I can be aggressive sometimes also. To improve my assertiveness, I plan to try to get everyone to agree, and suggest ideas that will allow everyone's input and ideas to be used.