Producer creatures store solar energy in organic foods with photosynthesis. This stored energy is transferred from producers to consumers depending on the nutritional relationship. The transfer of energy in food in this way from producers to herbivores and from them to carnivores is called the transfer of energy or the food chain.
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| Food Chain |
Thanks to the substance and energy cycles, ecosystem and life are maintained. A disruption to the substance cycles or more or less dispersal of the substance in a region affects the ecosystem balance. For example, greenhouse gases can accumulate in the atmosphere as a result of excessive burning of fossil fuels during the carbon cycle. This accumulating greenhouse gas causes the world to overheat and the water cycle will deteriorate as a result of excessive evaporation. This causes consequences such as drought in some regions.
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| Greenhouse Gas |
The vertical sequence of a food chain from the producer stage to the end consumer stage is called the food pyramid.
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| Food Pyramid |
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- Nutrition steps in the food chain are called trophic levels. The food chain usually starts with flowering plants in terrestrial environments, and vegetative plankton in the aquatic environment.
- Autotrophs are always at the bottom of the food pyramid and heterotrophs in other steps. Saprophytes are not found in a certain step, they can affect every step.
- The total weight of living things in each step of the food pyramid is called biomass.
As we go from bottom to top in the food pyramid;
- The number of living things decreases.
- Biomass is reduced.
- Usually, the body size of living things increases.
- The reproductive rate of living things decreases.
- The amount of energy transferred decreases and energy loss increases.
- Toxic substance accumulation increases.
Matter Cycles
Water Cycle
- Sources of waters on earth; oceans, seas, lakes and streams. It is called the water cycle that the waters in the sea, lakes, oceans and streams reach the atmosphere and from the atmosphere to the earth again. The water evaporates from the surface of the seas, lakes and land parts under the influence of the sun's rays and passes into the atmosphere. In addition, water evaporated from plants and other creatures through perspiration and respiration passes into the atmosphere. The evaporated water cools to the top layers of the atmosphere and cools and condenses. It then returns to the ground in the form of rain, snow or hail. Thus, the water cycle is completed.
- Disruption in the water cycle negatively affects ecosystems. The main factors that adversely affect the water cycle are the inclusion of wastewater into the water sources without treatment, reduction of forests and other vegetation, excessive use of groundwater, and precipitation of acid rain due to air pollution.
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| Water Cycle |
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Carbon Cycle
- The carbon cycle is called the movement of carbon continuously through the atmosphere and the earth, thanks to events such as photosynthesis, decomposition, erosion, burning, respiration and nutrition. Carbon (C) is one of the building blocks of organic molecules that form the structure of living things. The most important carbon composition that joins the circulation in the world is CO2.
The carbon element has four primary sources on Earth.
1. Atmosphere: Carbon is one of the gases that are constantly present in the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide.
2. Hydrosphere: Carbon is found dissolved in water in the form of carbon dioxide and bicarbonate in lakes, streams, seas and oceans.
3. Lithosphere: Fossil materials such as oil, natural gas, coal and limestone in the lithosphere contain abundant carbon. Fossil materials are formed when deceased living things dissolve under ground in oxygen-free environment for many years.
4. Biosphere: Carbon is an organic compound in the structure of living cells.
- When people, animals and plants breathe oxygen, they release CO2 into the air. Burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil and forest fires also ensure that CO2 is released into the atmosphere. This CO2 is taken by photosynthesis green plants and used in food production. In addition, microscopic living things called phytoplankton use water-soluble CO2 in photosynthesis. Thus, Carbon in CO2 passes back to living things. It is transferred from plants to foods and animals. Meanwhile, C, which is formed by the breakdown of nutrients, is released into the atmosphere again through breathing. Thus, the carbon cycle is completed.
- The entry of CO2 in the atmosphere into the living body takes place through photosynthesis and chemosynthesis by autotrophic living things.
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| Carbon Cycle |
Nitrogen Cycle
- Nitrogen is found in living things in the structure of protein, DNA, RNA and ATP and some vitamins. The process of using the gaseous nitrogen in the atmosphere by living things and then giving it back to the atmosphere is called the nitrogen cycle.
- There is 78% nitrogen in the atmosphere. However, no plants and animal groups can use this free nitrogen. Nitrogen in the atmosphere returns to the earth in the form of nitric acid with rains as a result of events such as lightning and lightning. Some bacteria can also capture and use free nitrogen in the air.
- In order for nitrogen to be used by plants, it must be converted to nitrate salts (NO3). Some plants can also use ammonium (NH4).
- Nitrification: It is the process of the formation of nitrate, a nitrogenous salt, from ammonia, which is a nitrogenous gas, with the help of bacteria.
- Denitrification: The conversion of nitrogenous compounds in the soil into free nitrogen in the air with the help of nitrogen-decomposing bacteria.
- Animals meet nitrogen needs by eating plants and other animals. The dead tissues and organic wastes of plants and animals are broken down by bacteria that decompose. With this breakdown, nitrogenous organic substances are transferred to the soil as ammonia (NH4). Ammonia (NH4) in the soil is converted to nitrite by nitrite bacteria, which is chemosynthetic bacteria, and to nitrate by nitrate bacteria. Denitrifying bacteria living in the soil also turn nitrite and nitrate into the free nitrogen of the atmosphere. Thus, the nitrogen cycle is completed.
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| Nitrogen Cycle |
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Phosphorus Cycle
- Phosphorus is found mostly in the structure of teeth and bones in vertebrates. There is no phosphorus element in the atmosphere, so the cycle of phosphorus is from land to sea, from seas to land.
- The source of phosphorus in nature are phosphate rocks. While the water is flowing, it erodes the upper surface of the rocks, removing various minerals and carrying some of it as a solution and some of it as a suspension. Some of these minerals (SO4, Ca, Mg, P) are very important for living things.
- In particular, phosphorus is taken by plants as inorganic phosphate. It is then converted into various organic phosphates. Organic phosphates are used in nucleic acid, fat and carbohydrate metabolism.
- The transition of phosphorus from land to sea is fast and the transition from sea to land is much slower. Seabirds play an important role in the phosphorus circulation, leaving their phosphate-rich fertilizers ashore. In addition, when fish are eaten by other creatures, some phosphorus passes from the waters to the land.
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| Phosphorus Cycle |
Oxygen Cycle
- Oxygen is an important gas for living things. Required for breathing. There are two important events that cause oxygen consumption in nature. These are respiratory and burning events. Likewise, the important event that causes oxygen production is photosynthesis. Oxygen is released when using carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. Thanks to these events, the oxygen balance in the atmosphere and water is preserved. The carbon and oxygen cycle is interconnected.
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| Oxygen Cycle |
The Original Author: Mrs. Şerife (Erden) SARICA
