Energy

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This week we were studying energy in ecosystems and how the energy is passed around in a certain ecosystem. We were also discussing relationships between organisms in an ecosystem. Let’s begin with the relationships.





There are three main kinds of relationships: predation, competition, and symbiotic. There are three kinds of symbiotic relationships, mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.





Predation


Predation is a predator-prey relationship. It always is a win-lose kind of thing, so one organism get a meal, and the other is the meal. Like if a rabbit were eating grass, the grass is the prey and the rabbit would be the predator in that certain relationship. If you had pizza for lunch, you were the predator and the pizza was the prey. That’s how it works.





Next We have Competition


Competition relationships are just like they sound: two organisms are competing for something, food, water, mates, shelter, it seems like they can find anything to fight about. Deer fight, so do gorillas, and even some birds compete for mates. It’s kind of like you battling your sibling for the last cupcake.





Next would be symbiosis, mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism


A mutual relationship is a win-win situation. Both organisms benefit. Like the Egyptian Plover is a kind of bird that needs food. It eats leeches. (Gross). The Nile crocodile, however, has leeches in its mouth, and needs to get them out. So the Egyptian Plover has a meal of “yummy” leeches, and the Nile crocodile gets rid of the pests. Their relationship is mutual. Like when you win the rock-paper-scissors game and you decide to give half of the cupcake to your sister. You both win.





Commensalism is when one organism benefits from the experience, and the other couldn’t care less. They really don’t care. Like the acacia tree and the orchid, the orchid benefits from the protection of the tree, whereas the tree doesn’t really get anything out of it. If you moved the orchid away, it would suffer, but the tree couldn’t care less. Like when your sister turns off your bedroom light when you’re trying to read. You care, since you can’t read, but your dog, who can see better than you in the dark, couldn’t care less.





Parasitism is where one benefits, and the other is harmed. Like a dog and a tick, the tick gets the dog’s blood as a meal, but the dog is uncomfortable and in pain for a while. Like when your sister wants you to piggyback her, she gets the benefit of a ride, but your hips are falling off.





Energy in environments
We know that plants are the producers in the ecosystems and they get their energy from the sun. Producers are called autotrophs. Next we have the primary consumers, the secondary consumers, and the tertiary consumers, all of which are considered heterotrophs. The energy pyramid shows us the trophic levels of the food chains.





The decomposers are set separately from the others because they get their energy from all of the levels. Plants get energy from the sun, herbivores get it from the plants, omnivores get it from herbivores, and carnivores get it from omnivores. Decomposers get it from everyone. Everything in an environment happens for a reason. If you removed the sun, nothing would grow, feeding no one. If the plants were removed, herbivores would die. So would omnivores, and carnivores… If you removed anything from the ecosystem, the rest would collapse.

S&EP: SP2 Using models


This week we used model to explain energy usage. We had four cups, two with one hole, one with two holes, and one with three holes. We were in a line, and a one holed cup scooped up a cupful of water to the brim. They passed it into their right hand and poured it into the next cup This went on until the last person poured the water into the graduated cylinder to measure how much water was left. Then we found out the energy efficiency.





XCC: Patterns





When we used the cup and water method to figure out our energy efficiency, we used a pattern: scoop, transfer, pour, transfer, pour, etc. The pattern was working excellently.