Which sphere encompasses the plants animals

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Living organisms in an ecosystem are usually grouped according to how they obtain food. Autotrophs that make their own food are known as producers , while heterotrophs that eat other organisms, living or dead, are known as consumers. The producers include land and aquatic plants, algae and microscopic phytoplankton in the ocean. They all make their own food by using chemicals and energy sources from their environment. For example, plants use photosynthesis to manufacture sugar glucose from carbon dioxide and water.

Using this sugar and other nutrients e. These materials include: starches, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids.

Energy from sunlight is thus fixed as food used by themselves and by consumers. The consumers are classed into different groups depending on the source of their food.

Herbivores e. Carnivores e. They feed on primary consumers. Tertiary consumers feed on other carnivores. Some organisms known as omnivores e.

Organisms that feed on dead organisms are called scavengers e. Detritivores detritus feeders, e. Decomposers e. The decomposers play a crucial role in recycling nutrients, as they reduce complex organic matter into inorganic nutrients that can be used by producers. If an organic substance can be broken down by decomposers, it is called biodegradable. In every ecosystem, each consumer level depends upon lower-level organisms e.

All of these levels, from producer to tertiary consumer, form what is known as a food chain. A community has many food chains that are interwoven into a complex food web. The amount of organic material in a food web is referred to as its biomass. When one organism eats another, chemical energy stored in biomass is transferred from one level of the food chain to the next.

Most of the consumed biomass is not converted into biomass of the consumer. Only a small portion of the useable energy is actually transferred to the next level, typically 10 percent. Each higher level of the food chain represents a cumulative loss of useable energy. The result is a pyramid of energy flow , with producers forming the base level.

Assuming 10 percent efficiency at each level, the tertiary consumer level would use only 0. Because there is less energy available high on the energy pyramid, there are fewer top-level consumers.

A disruption of the producer base of a food chain, therefore, has its greatest effect on the top-level consumer. Ecosystem populations constantly fluctuate in response to changes in the environment, such as rainfall, mean temperature, and available sunlight.

Normally, such changes are not drastic enough to significantly alter ecosystems, but catastrophic events such as floods, fires and volcanoes can devastate communities and ecosystems. It may be long after such a catastrophic event before a new, mature ecosystem can become established.

After severe disturbance the make up of a community is changed. The resulting community of species changes, as early, post disturbance, fast-growing species are out-competed by other species. This natural process is called ecological succession. It involves two types of succession: primary succession and secondary succession. Primary succession is the development of the first biota in a given region where no life is found. An example is of this is the surrounding areas where volcanic lava has completely covered a region or has built up a new island in the ocean.

Initially, only pioneer species can survive there, typically lichens and mosses , which are able to withstand poor conditions. They are able to survive in highly exposed areas with limited water and nutrients. Lichen, which is made up of both a fungus and an alga, survives by mutualism. The fungus produces an acid, which acts to further dissolve the barren rock. The alga uses those exposed nutrients, along with photosynthesis, to produce food for both.

Grass seeds may land in the cracks, carried by wind or birds. The grass grows, further cracking the rocks, and upon completing its own life cycle, contributes organic matter to the crumbling rock to make soil. In time, larger plants, such as shrubs and trees may inhabit the area, offering habitats and niches to immigrating animal life.

When the maximum biota that the ecosystem can support is reached, the climax community prevails. This occurs after hundreds if not thousands of years depending on the climate and location. The first few centimeters of this soil may have taken years to develop from solid rock. It may be rich in humus, organic waste, and may be stocked with ready seeds of future plants. Secondary succession is also a new beginning, but one with a much quicker regrowth of organisms.

Depending on the environment, succession to a climax community may only require to years with normal climate conditions, with communities progressing through stages of early plant and animal species , mid-species and late successional species. Some ecosystems, however, can never by regained. The biosphere can be divided into relatively large regions called biomes.

A biome has a distinct climate and certain living organisms especially vegetation characteristic to the region and may contain many ecosystems. The key factors determining climate are average annual precipitation and temperature. These factors, in turn, depend on the geography of the region, such as the latitude and elevation of the region, and mountainous barriers. The major types of biomes include: aquatic , desert , forest , grassland and tundra. Biomes have no distinct boundaries. Instead, there is a transition zone called an ecotone, which contains a variety of plants and animals.

For example, an ecotone might be a transition region between a grassland and a desert, with species from both. Water covers a major portion of the earth's surface, so aquatic biomes contain a rich diversity of plants and animals. Aquatic biomes can be subdivided into two basic types: freshwater and marine. Freshwater has a low salt concentration, usually less than 1 percent, and occurs in several types of regions: ponds and lakes, streams and rivers, and wetlands.

Ponds and lakes range in size, and small ponds may be seasonal. They sometimes have limited species diversity due to isolation from other water environments. They can get their water from precipitation, surface runoff, rivers, and springs. Streams and rivers are bodies of flowing water moving in one general direction i. Streams and rivers start at their upstream headwaters, which could be springs, snowmelt or even lakes.

They continue downstream to their mouths, which may be another stream, river, lake or ocean. The environment of a stream or river may change along its length, ranging from clear, cool water near the head, to warm, sediment-rich water near the mouth. The greatest diversity of living organisms usually occurs in the middle region. Wetlands are places of still water that support aquatic plants, such as cattails, pond lilies and cypress trees. Types of wetlands include marshes, swamps and bogs. Wetlands have the highest diversity of species with many species of birds, fur-bearing mammals, amphibians and reptiles.

Some wetlands, such as salt marshes, are not freshwater regions. Marine regions cover nearly three-fourths of the earth's surface. Marine bodies are salty, having approximately 35 grams of dissolved salt per liter of water 3.

Oceans are very large marine bodies that dominate the earth's surface and hold the largest ecosystems. They contain a rich diversity of living organisms. Ocean regions can be separated into four major zones: intertidal , pelagic , benthic and abyssal.

The intertidal zone is where the ocean meets the land. Sometimes, it is submerged and at other times exposed, depending upon waves and tides.

Atmospheric gases work together to keep the global temperatures within livable limits, shield the surface of Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun, and allow living things to thrive. One specific example of interaction between all the spheres is human fossil fuel consumption. Deposits of these fuels formed millions of years ago, when plants and animals—all part of the biosphere—died and decayed. At that point, their remains were compressed within Earth to form coal, oil, and natural gas, thus becoming part of the geosphere.

Now, humans—members of the biosphere—burn these materials as fuel to release the energy they contain. The combustion byproducts, such as carbon dioxide, end up in the atmosphere. There, they contribute to global warming, changing and stressing the cryosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.

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Of all of that water, only about three percent is freshwater. An even smaller amount can be used as drinking water. Earth is the planet we live on, the third of eight planets in our solar system and the only known place in the universe to support life. Our planet began as part of a cloud of dust and gas.