Living and nonliving things Whats the difference What

Living and non-living things What’s the difference?

What does “alive” mean? • What are some things that are alive? • Let’s list them and their characteristics

Characteristics of these living things:

Characteristics of all living things • • • All living things grow All living things reproduce All living things move All living things are made of cells All living things undergo respiration All living things undergo other complex cellular processes.

Growth • • Getting bigger Increasing in size Getting more complicated Examples – Seed to sapling to tall tree – Egg to chicken – Egg to tadpole to frog http: //www. chipangali. com/animals_to_adopt. htm

Reproduction • • Having babies Making copies of yourself Passing along your genes to a new generation Examples: – Bacteria dividing – Babies – Plants making seeds http: //www. dmturner. org/Teacher/Pictures/Cell%20 reproduction. jpg

Reproduction vs. Growth • Reproduction – Making copies of yourself – pass on genetic information • Growth – Getting bigger – Developing Growth Reproduction http: //www. rockefeller. edu/labheads/crossf-lab. html

Growth or reproduction? http: //www. oum. ox. ac. uk/children/animals/reprod. htm

Movement • Walking, running, standing • Movement is any response to a stimulus – Stimulus—a signal from outside the cell or organism • Movement is interacting with or reacting to something else – Turning to look at a noise or flash – Plants growing toward the sun – Bacteria moving toward a food source

Made of cells • Cells are the smallest living things • Cells come together to make larger, more complicated organisms • We’ll talk more about cells later • Plants, animals, and single-celled organisms are all made of one or more cells

Respiration • Respiration in three steps 1. Take in oxygen 2. Use oxygen to make energy 3. Expel carbon dioxide (CO 2) • • Breathing Even plants do this

Complex cellular processes • We just talked about respiration • Living things do many other processes, too: – Photosynthesis – Breaking down food – Transporting substances into and out of cells – Making proteins and copying DNA

But it’s not always simple • Are viruses alive? • What about prions (PREE-ons) (selfreplicating proteins) like the ones that cause mad cow disease? – Yes: move, reproduce – No: not made of cells, can’t do cellular processes on their own

In-class assignment • On a grid that looks like this: grow ro rep c du e v mo e n e m t n pi res io rat cells ar l u ell c x ses e l mp oces o C pr

• Down the side, list these items: – rock, wood, frog, leaf, worm, safety pin, cactus, door, paper, grass, tree, elk, T-shirt, tennis shoe, bicycle, car, human, bacteria, book, and water. • List 5 items of your own

Now complete the chart grow ro p re c du e v o m e n me t n i p s e r io rat cells rock wood frog leaf worm safety pin cactus door paper grass tree Yes—clearly does this No—clearly does not do this Past—used to but doesn’t anymore ? ? —unclear about this lar u l el c lex sses p e m Co proc

grow ro p re c du e v o m e n me t n i p s e r io rat cells tree elk T-shirt tennis shoe bicycle car human bacteria book water Yes—clearly does this No—clearly does not do this Past—used to but doesn’t anymore ? ? —unclear about this lar u l el c lex sses p e m Co proc

Before you turn it in… • Make sure you include your own 5 items • Make sure all items are complete • Code each item as “living” or “non-living” – Colors, circles, labels, you pick the code… • Make sure your name, your partner’s name and the period is on the top • Turn it in.

Living Things lab • Work in pairs. Each group will need their own search area. • Carefully observe all objects found in your search area. Be sure to look in, under, and around other objects • Keep a list of everything you find in your area • When we come inside, sort your objects into a living/non-living Venn diagram

Living/non-living Venn diagram Living things Once living, now dead Non-living things Turn in: lab procedures (directions), data (list of objects), Venn diagram

Ecology Study of the Environment

What is ecology? • Ecology is the study of the environment • Ecology includes: – Plants – Animals – Air, water – Nutrients – And the interactions between them

Ecology may involve: • Rowing around a lake collecting air and water samples • Trapping, tagging, and releasing animals • Tracking animal movement • Mapping plant populations • Testing for air or water toxins • Using computer simulations to model a community

Ecology studies ecosystems • An ecosystem is – all the living and non-living things found in one type of location • The living things are: – the biotic components – plants, animals, bacteria • The non-living things are – the abiotic factors – air, water, nutrients, weather, climate

Example: A desert ecosystem may include: • Biotic – – – Snake Coyote Tarantula Cactus Kangaroo Rat Jackrabbit • Abiotic – – – Hot summer days Cold winter nights Little rain Low nutrients Sand Bare rock

Example: A Coral Reef Ecosystem • Biotic – – – – Barracuda Hawksbill turtle Blue-headed wrasse Damselfish Brain coral Gorgonian coral Algae Many types of bacteria • Abiotic – – – Warm water Salt water Current Low nutrients Little seasonal change

Other examples of ecosystems?

Ecologists use 6 levels of organization • Individual: • Population: a single organism Many Blue tangs (Lots of Dori’s Atlantic cousins) many individuals of the same type One Blue tang (Dori’s Atlantic cousin)

6 levels of organization, con’t • Community: – Several different types of organisms – deer, rabbits, grass, wolves, trees, etc

Hawksbill turtle Sea rods Sea fans Blue tangs Stoplight Parrotfish Brain coral

6 levels of organization, con’t • Ecosystem: – living and non-living things – deer, rabbits, grass, wolves, dirt, stream, lake, sun, wind, etc air wind Lots of nutrients water http: //www. fws. gov/midwest/Ecosystem. Conservation/forest. jpg

Limestone Warm, salty water Hawksbill turtle Sea rods Ocean current Sand Sea fans Blue tangs Stoplight Parrotfish Nutrients Brain coral

6 levels of organization, con’t • Biome: – All the ecosystems at the same latitude, so they have the same climate and the same dominant species – All tropical rainforests – All deserts, etc http: //360 geographics. com/West/Arizona/Cactus. Country/Bio 2 Ocean. jpg

The main biomes http: //www. hesd. k 12. ca. us/resource/biomes/Biome%20 map. gif

6 levels of organization, con’t Biosphere: the entire planet and some of the atmosphere http: //www. geog. uni-heidelberg. de/~ttavk/weltkarten/globen/1997 -1998 -biosphere-Nasa. jpg

Hungry? • Where do we get our energy? – We eat food • Where does our food get its energy? – If our food came from an animal, it ate, too – If our food came from a plant, it used sunlight • So what is the ultimate source of energy? – Sunlight (usually) – Some bacteria use chemicals instead of sunlight

A food chain • A food chain shows the flow of energy between one organism at each level • It is a very simple picture of what happens Energy flow

Is this a good food chain? • It is good as far as it goes, but – How many things does a mouse really eat? – How many things eat mice? – Can I make a better representation? • A food web shows the energy flow between many organisms at each level • More realistic, but it can get very complicated

A food web

So what are the levels? • All energy starts with the sun (or chemicals) • Next are the producers – These are autotrophs. They make their own food. • The heterotrophs. We’ll call them consumers. – Primary consumers (herbivores—eat plants) – Secondary consumers (eat herbivores) – Tertiary and higher consumers (eat carnivores) – Omnivores are also consumers. They’re harder to place because they eat producers and consumers

An energy pyramid Tertiary consumer (Carnivores, omnivores) Secondary consumer (carnivores) Primary consumer (herbivores) Producers (Plants) Sun Chemical energy Decomposers eat the remains of dead organisms and the waste from other organisms Decomposers return nutrients to the soil but do not return energy

Why is there less energy at the top? • Plants never catch all the available sunlight • Consumers must use energy to eat • Higher-order consumers must use even more energy to catch their prey • Animals give off heat Tertiary Secondary Primary Producers (Plants) Sun Chemical energy

How much is lost? • The most common estimate says 90% of the energy is lost at each level. • The energy really looks like this: 0. 01% Secondary 0. 1% Primary consumers 10% Producers (Plants) 100% Sun Chemical energy 1%

Important points • Using the energy pyramid, why are herbivores so much more common than tertiary consumers like bears, wolves, or cougars? – There is more energy available to herbivores • Which food is the most energy-efficient: – 100 calories of bread – 100 calories of hamburger – 100 calories of bear burgers

So how should an animal spend it’s energy? • How long should a predator chase its prey? – Let’s say a coyote is chasing a rabbit that would give him 1000 calories? – How many calories should he expend? • • No more than 1000 No more than 10, 000 Because if he spends more than 1000 calories hunting a 1000 -calorie rabbit, he has just lost energy

Using energy wisely • A predator should not spend more energy hunting than it gets from its food • But what can it do if the food supply is limited? • To survive when food is hard to find, an animal can: – Hibernate – Migrate – Change food sources

Is it ever OK to use more energy than you gain from your food? • Sure, if it is not chronic or severe – If you are trying to lose weight – You don’t feel good so you don’t eat • But if it is chronic or severe… – …you start to become weak and unhealthy – …you can starve to death

So eating should be a balance • You should eat only as many calories as you need to survive, function, and remain healthy • Eating a lot of extra calories causes you to build fat and gain weight – Which is actually good if you need to hibernate all winter and won’t be eating until spring… • Eating too few calories causes you to burn fat and lose weight, and may result in starvation

Ancient peoples • Ate what was near by (a few days walk) – Or sometimes traded with other groups, but even those were relatively close by today’s standards • Ate fresh foods – Grown or freshly gathered from the surrounding areas – Recently hunted or been stored • Ate or stored all the food they produced/obtained • Used energy mostly for basic tasks—obtaining food, hand-made crafts, basic life

Modern Americas • Eat a lot of calories—way more than most people use • Eat food shipped in from all over the world • Produce a vast excess of certain type of food, which we either burn, destroy, or export • Eat food that has been highly processed, prepared, canned, etc • Use energy mainly for running “machines” – Lights, cars, video games, factories, etc

A modern American energy pyramid? Tertiary and higher-order consumers 1% 0. 001 % Secondary Consumers Primary consumers. 1% Producers (Plants) 1% Including what we get as primary consumers and energy that is eaten by secondary consumers Energy we get from producers, including burning them and what is eaten by livestock 100%--the energy modern Americans use Sun Chemical energy (including burning fossil fuels)

Modern Americans waste a lot of energy. Can you help stop it? • Some simple ways to help reduce energy waste: – Turn off/unplug electronics/lights when not in use – Drive less—walk, bike, carpool, take the bus – Eat and cook with fresh foods • Prepared foods use a lot of fossil fuel in the preparation process, while fresh foods use much less – Reuse and recycle whenever possible – Compost and use it for fertilizer – Others?

– – – – – rock, piedra wood, madera frog, rana leaf, hoja worm, gusano safety pin, imperdible cactus, door, puerta paper, papel grass, césped – – – – – tree, arbol elk, alce T-shirt, camiseta tennis shoe, zapatos bicycle, bicicleta car, carro human, humano bacteria, bacterias book, libro water, auga