Grace Sisson

Vivian Hong
Bryce Schooling
September 22, 2014
APES 1
Ecocolumn
Nature is organized in the way organisms can maintain homeostasis to strengthen their
population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere. Without organisms, nature cannot survive. In
the atmosphere, it consists of several spherical layers. Its inner layer, the troposphere extends to
approximately 17 kilometers above sea level. The troposphere contains the majority of the
planets air, 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. The next layer is the stratosphere, stretching 17-48
kilometers above the earths surface. Its lower portion contains ozone to filter out most of
sunlights ultraviolet radiation. Next, the hydrosphere consists of the earths surface and
underground water. Lastly, the lithosphere is the earth's crust and upper mantle.
The lithosphere of the earth contains nonrenewable fossil fuels, minerals that many use,
and also renewable soil chemicals required for plant life. There are many forms of soil that keep
producers alive such as, Mature soil, young soil, and immature soil. The layers of mature soil
from the top is O horizon which is Leaf litter, A horizon, topsoil, B horizon, subsoil, and C
horizon, parent material. You will find mature soils in forest areas. Young soil consists of organic
debris build up and regolith. Young soil is found under prairie like areas. Lastly, Immature soil
are made of bedrocks and is found under moss and lichen.
Matter continually cycles through ecosystems in order to allow all organisms to
grow. Organisms consume matter and change them into different forms. When organisms

die, matter is generated back to the environment by decomposers who create nutrients for
the earth. According to the law of conservation matter, matter can neither be destroyed or
created but can be recycled for future use. Living things in an ecosystem interact with
each other by reproducing with their own species, adapting to its environment with a
population. You can find a mother and child symbiosis in an ecosystem when surviving
the fittest, through food chains, and food webs.
Only 10% of the energy at one trophic level is passed on to the next level. Energy
is distributed through each type of organisms in the environment. Ninety percent of
energy is lost in the environment. For an example, Producers hold 1000 kg of energy then
passes 10% down to primary consumers, another 10% deducted to secondary consumers,
leaving 1kg of energy for tertiary consumers. The 10% rule helps you calculate how
much energy is available at a given level of an energy pyramid. More in depth,
herbivores, animals that feed on plants, gain energy from consuming their foods.
Carnivores that eat herbivores gain energy from consuming them. Omnivores, for an
example, grizzly bears, gain the greatest amount of energy by consuming both plants and
meat. Decomposers, including bacteria and insects, break down wastes and dead
organisms and return nutrients to its earths soil.
The purpose of creating an ecosystem is to know and understand the biodiversity within a
certain environment and to acknowledge another environment other than the urban area many are
used to seeing everyday. The ecocolumn represents the Earth. The soil in the forest and savanna
and the rocks in the ocean, represent the layers of soil, as it helps maintain plant life in its habitat,
however, when the soil is not properly nurtured with, enough water or sunlight, it can damage the
health of the soil. The atmospheres in all three ecosystems allow plants to grow through

photosynthesis and provide oxygen for organisms who maintain a cycle with the environment to
distribute food, energy, and shelter for all. In the forest, the rocks help provide protection for
animals and nutrient the soils for plants. The soil in the savanna help maintain the growth of its
grassland that feeds wildlife. The water in the ocean interacts with the production of seaweed
that are one of many foods in the ocean.
The biodiversity in each ecocolumn is very low because it was put together without any
structure for nurturing the organisms. The biodiversity in the forest will increase if it was
watered by rainy weathers, that way, the rain will surface worms that help increase the amount of
air and water that gets into the soil, strengthening its life for future use. The Biodiversity of an
ecosystem can decrease due to habitat destruction, invasive species, population, pollution, and
over harvesting.
A forest is filled with millions of trees that feed and house many species of organisms
who live in the forest. The water and temperature of the forest navigate its well being. In the
forest in the ecocolumn, biodiversity can decrease if it lacks sunlight, for producers to grow. If
producers do not grow, consumers will starve and suffocate from lack of oxygen. In the model,
we were unable to change the temperature or water the plants to save its life, since we used
plants that were no longer connected to the roots of the earth. It would be impossible to nuture
any life under that condition.
In the savanna, the area is covered in dead grass like plants and the area contains little
species of animals. A savanna is a grassland ecosystem covered in trees and filled with 500
different species of organisms. The biodiversity of the savanna in the ecocolumn can increase if
the population of all species of animals tripled and fed off each other to survive. Biodiversity
may decrease if we continued to cut down the plants, animals feed off to survive. However,

without any sunlight or water to give to the model, we are unable to produce anything in our
savana model.
The ocean is the principal of earths hydrosphere and covers 71% of the planets surface,
the rocks in the ocean make up the seafloor allowing the waters to form new minerals, In the
ocean in the ecocolumn, there is little diversity in sea life we can increase the oceans diversity
by decreasing recreational activities by humans and reduced chemical use in the advanced world.
We can increase the diversity inside if the waters stayed clean for organisms to survive.