Essential Biology: 5.1 Ecosystems and Communities

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Energy Flows, Nutrients are Recycled:

Energy flow animation, from MHHE

Global Carbon Cycle tutorial, from Freeman

Nitrogen Cycle animations from Nodvin.net and from ClassZone.com

The Calcium Cycle, from Bill Duesing

Biogeochemical cycles, from Wikilabs

Here’s a neat time-lapse of flesh-eating beetles at London’s Natural History Museum doing some recycling of their own:

Energy flows… but nutrients recycle. We are made of organic molecules – nutrients. So why not truly go green?

For more on how saprotrophs such as fungi can be harnessed to solve pollutant problems, check out Paul Stamet’s talk: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world.

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This content is closely linked to G2: Ecosystems and Biomes.

Here’s a nice timelapse showing the breakdown of food by bacteria, fungi and other organisms (nutrients being recyled):

Ecology is life, and life is complex relationships. Here’s an overly-brief TED Talk on how to see the simple issues in complex situations, using some nice food-web examples:

What happens at a ‘Whale Fall’?

Whale Fall (after life of a whale) from Sharon Shattuck on Vimeo.

Key terms: ecology, ecosystem, community, biotic, abiotic, species, population, heterotroph, autotroph, detritivore, saprotroph, trophic level, pyramid, energy, nutrient