The role of the top carnivores (Cougar, Bear, Lynx, Owl and Wolf) in the Temperate Rainforest is mostly to control the population of all the other species in the ecosystem. The role of the secondary consumers (Weasel, Raccoon, Frog Woodpecker) is to control the population of the primary consumers and the provide food for the top carnivores. The primary consumers (Deer, Elk, Birds, small mammals, Salmon and insects) consume the autotrophs and turn the plants energy into energy for the whole ecosystem. The autotroph level of the food chain (Lichen, Moss, Ferns, Wildflowers, Vine Maple , Douglas fur trees, Pacific Yew and Western Hemlock) turns the suns energy into useable energy for the whole ecosystem trough the process of photosynthesis.
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http://temperaterainforestelynam.weebly.com/food-webs-and-chains.html
I chose the energy pyramid of the Temperate Rainforest. The energy pyramid shows a loss of energy as you go up the pyramid by about a factor of 10. This energy is lossed as heat energy as the consumers move around more to find food to eat. As you go up the food chain the scarcer the food supply the more the consumer has to move to find food so the more energy in lossed.
The water cycle starts with water evaporating the water then condenses and turns into clouds. The water then falls as rain, snow and other forms of precipitation. The water then becomes run off and can be absorbed by plants, goes into ground water or works its way into streams, rivers and eventually the ocean the the cycle restarts .
Humans can affect the water cycle by putting pollutants in the air causing acid rain or polluted ground water |
Phosphate cycle
The Phosphate cycle starts with an animal or plant dying. The waste is decomposed into the soil and can go right back into the soil and back into plants or it can run off into the ocean. once it is in the ocean. It is cycled trough the plants and animals and eventually settles to the bottom of the ocean. Then over millions of years it is brought back up to the surface trough geological uplift. Then the plants use it and the cycle restarts. Humans can effect the phosphate cycle by deforestation causing more phosphate to run into the oceans. Humans can also impact the cycle by building roads causing the run off to travel less distance because the roads may alter the flow of streams and rivers. The carbon cycle starts with CO2 being produced. It is produced when an animal exhales, when a plant or animal dies, burning fossil fuels or though the industrial processes in factories. The dead plant and animal matter is compacted and the CO2 forms fossil fuels. but most of the CO2 is released into the atmosphere and is absorbed by plants and trough the process of photosynthesis and released back into the atmosphere as O2. Then the cycle restarts.
Humans have a substantial impact on the carbon/oxygen cycle. This is because of all the factories and all the fossil fuels we burn in our cars or for electricity in coal power plants |
The Nitrogen cycle starts with organic matter decaying. This eventually turns into ammonium (NH4) then trough the process of nitrification ( the oxidization of ammonia and nitrates) the ammonia turns into nitrates (NO2). Some of the nitrates leach into the ground water the nitrates that remain go trough another cycle of nitrification and turn into more nitrates (NO3) and some of these leach into the ground water. some of the nitrates the go trough a process called denitrification (the escape of nitrogen into the atmosphere) the rest of the nitrates are consumed by the plants and the cycle restarts.
Humans impact the nitrogen cycle by burning fossil fuels and farming cattle because this causes more nitrogen the be released into the atmosphere The the amount of rain an ecosystem gets a year effects the cycles of matter. The amount of water per year effects the phosphate and nitrogen cycles greatly. The nitrogen cycle is effected by the amount of rain water because the amount of rain will determine how much nitrogen enters the ground water trough leaching. The phosphate cycle is sped up by more rainfall because there is more weathering. But the sedimentation and geological uplift takes the same amount of time.
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