24.11.07 Bio: trophic levels, competition

The Bio modules:

• mod 6 Net Primary Productivity
  
• mod 7 trophic levels
  
• mod 1 competition
  
• 
  
• mod 8 biodiversity-M&Ms
  
• mod 9 ecosystem services
  
• mod 10 biogeography
  
• 
  
• mod 11 ecological tolerance
  
• mod 12 disruptions
  
• mod 13 adaptation
  
• mod 14 ecological succession
  
• 
  
• mod 15 population dynamics r, K
  
• mod 16 carrying capacity-lynx-hare
  
• mod 17 age distribution 
  
• mod 18 human population 

Net Primary Productivity: The rate of turning solar energy into organic materials

From last week: photosynthesis (water, CO2 based) or chemosynthesis (sulfur based) turn energy into organic compounds (light+water->sugar)

• Autotrophs= auto (self) troph (food)
  
• also known as Producers in the food chain
• GPP: gross primary productivity = all energy into all food
• NPP: net primary productivity = gross - energy of respiration
• Net is usually only 25-50% of gross (not much)
• Fun fact: your body is only about 33% efficient, the rest goes to heat
• Same with your gas powered car...

If this were a business, they would charge 20$ for a shirt, that cost them $12, so they only make $8 per shirt. Not good business.

This is most efficient where there is lots of solar radiation, biomass and water:

Look for the richest and the poorest in each ecosystem:

Net vs. Gross is easy to understand:

• If your business takes in money, this is your gross income, say 100$
  
• If your materials cost 20$, then your net income would be 80$
  

• Ecosystem services: processes by which clean water, timber, fisheries and ag crops are produced
  
• Provisions: goods humans can use: timber, food crops, plants
  
• Support systems: pollinators (bees), water filtration (soils)
  
• Cultural services: aesthetics (John Muir, Ansel Adams)
  
• Monetary value: lumber, fishing, tourism, ecotourism
  

Dependent on several factors:

• colonization: how many new species can make it to the island, e.g. is it far from the mainland like Hawaii?
• extinction: how many species die out, and how fast, from what (disasters, humans)
• distance from each other: greater separation=fewer species (think of birds migrating across our island chain)

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