What shapes an ecosystem?4-1, 4-2 A

Greenhouse effect

• CO2, methane, water vapor trap heat energy

• Maintains Earth’s temp range

• Solar E is trapped, heat E doesn’t escape into space

Latitude effects

• Cause: Angle of sun’s heating and tilt of the earth • Effect: Earth has 3 major climate zones

PolarTemperateTropical

Heat transport

Habitat = address

• Biotic factors:

All other living things in the community

• Abiotic factors: climate, temp, rainfall, nutrients, sunlight

• Both determine survival and growth of organisms

Niche = job • What it eats• Place in the food

web• Physical conditions

it needs to survive• How it reproduces

Competition

• No two species can share the same niche in the same habitat.

• Ex: 3 types of warbler share the same tree, but feed at different places to decrease their competition

Bay-Breasted WarblerFeeds in the middlepart of the tree

Yellow-Rumped WarblerFeeds in the lower part of the tree andat the bases of the middle branches

Cape May WarblerFeeds at the tips of branchesnear the top of the tree

Spruce tree

Section 4-2

Figure 4-5 Three Species of Warblers and Their Niches

Succession• A series of

predictable changes to an ecosystem, in response to natural or human disturbances

• Primary: begins where no soil exists

• Secondary: change after a disturbance like fire or farming

Succession at Mt. St. Helens following a volcanic eruption

Succession: from pioneer species to climax forest

Lichens, moss create soil for succeeding plant species

Marine succession

• A whale dies and sinks to the ocean floor

• Fishes will eat the meat

• Amphipods, worms, bacteria complete the process of releasing nutrients back into the ecosystem