Symbiotic Relationship

● Symbiosis – interaction between two species.

Sometimes beneficial, sometimes harmful…
There are a few types:
● Commensalism
● Mutualism
● Parasitism
 Commensalism
● Commensalism - an association between two
organisms in which one benefits and the other derives
neither benefit nor harm.
 Mutualism
● Mutualism - symbiosis that is beneficial to both
organisms involved.
 Parasitism
● Parasitism - one species, the parasite, benefits at the
expense of the other, the host.
 8.L.3.3 Explain how the flow of energy within food webs is interconnected with the cycling of matter
(including water, nitrogen,
carbon dioxide and oxygen).

Flow of energy
● What is the ultimate source of energy?
● The sun!

The flow of energy through ecosystems can be described

and illustrated in food chains, food webs, and pyramids
(energy, number, and biomass).
● Food Pyramid
 Food Chain
● Food chain – linear sequence of links in a food web
starting from "producer" species (such as grass or
trees) and ending at apex predator "decomposer"
species (like grizzly bears or killer whales).
● Simple
● Why are there fewer organisms at the top of the food
chain?
 Food Web
● Food web - a system of interlocking and
interdependent food chains.
● More complex
● Interconnected
 Energy Pyramid (Trophic Pyramid)
● Energy Pyramid – graphical model of energy flow in a
community.
● Producers are at the bottom because they are able to
transform the sun’s energy into a large amount of plant energy
through photosynthesis.
● Animals that eat plants are at the next level (primary
consumers). They reply on plants for their energy.
● Animals that eat primary consumers are next (secondary
consumers). They reply on primary consumers for most of
their energy. The energy level of this section of the pyramid is
smaller because most of the energy at the primary consumer
level is used for their life processes and transformed to heat
before these animals are consumed.
● Animals that eat secondary consumers make up the next level
(tertiary consumers). They reply on secondary consumers for
most of their energy. This energy level of the pyramid is even
smaller than the others.
 Energy Pyramid
● How much energy is lost from one level to the next?
● 10 % of the original energy is left to feed the next level.
90 % of the available energy is used for life processes
such as respiration, photosynthesis, and reproduction and
transformed to heat energy before an organism is
consumed.

● The amount of energy at each trophic level decreases as

it moves through an ecosystem.
 Cycling of Matter
● The flow of energy is interconnected with the cycling of
matter.
● Matter, in the form of nutrients, also moves though the
organisms at each level. But matter cannot be
replenished like the energy from sunlight. The atoms of
carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and other elements make up
the bodies of organisms alive today are the same
atoms that have been on Earth since life began.
● Matter is constantly recycled.
 Cycling of Matter
● Flow of energy within food webs is interconnected with
the cycling of matter including…
● Water
● Nitrogen
● Carbon Dioxide
● Oxygen
Cycling of Water
 Cycling of Nitrogen
● Nitrogen cycle – how nitrogen moves between plants,
animals, bacteria, the atmosphere, and soil in the
ground.
● For nitrogen to be used by different life forms on Earth, it
must change into different states.
Nitrogen in the air, N2, nitrates (N03), nitrites (NO2), and
ammonium (NH4).
● The most important part of the cycle is bacteria.
Bacteria helps nitrogen change between states so it can be
used.
● Fixation - Fixation is the first step in the process of making
nitrogen usable by plants. Here bacteria change nitrogen
into ammonium.
● Nitrification - This is the process by which ammonium gets
changed into nitrates by bacteria. Nitrates are what the
plants can then absorb.
● Assimilation - This is how plants get nitrogen. They absorb
nitrates from the soil into their roots. Then the nitrogen gets
used in amino acids, nucleic acids, and chlorophyll.
● Ammonification - This is part of the decaying process.
When a plant or animal dies, decomposers like fungi and
bacteria turn the nitrogen back into ammonium so it can
reenter the nitrogen cycle.
● Denitrification - Extra nitrogen in the soil gets put back out
into the air. There are special bacteria that perform this task
as well.
 Cycling of Carbon Dioxide
● Carbon Cycle – cycles describing the flow of essential
elements from the environment to living organisms and
back to the environment again.
● All living things are made of carbon. Carbon is also a
part of the ocean, air, and even rocks.
● Because the Earth is a dynamic place, carbon does not
stay still. It is on the move!
 Oxygen Cycle
● Almost all living things need oxygen. They use this oxygen
during the process of creating energy in living cells.
● Plants mark the beginning of the oxygen cycle. Plants are
able to use the energy from the sun to convert carbon
dioxide and water into carbohydrates and oxygen into a
process called photosynthesis.
● Animals form the other half of the cycle, we breathe in O2
which we use to break carbohydrates down into energy in a
process called respiration. CO2 produced during
respiration is breathed out by animals into the air.
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