Big Creek Ecosystem essays

Big Creek Ecosystem essays In this report I will discuss the relationships and interactions between abiotic and biotic compounds found in big creek. Furthermore I will discuss the two main phenomena, which occur in big creek, this includes energy flow and nutrient cycling. First of all, as a class we found eight organisms that live and grow in the big creek habitat. These organisms are the biotic components that live in big creek. The abiotic components are comprised of the water, soil, and inorganic nutrients that are found in big creek. Within the biotic component there is a population, which would be a group of a single species. Many populations found together in the same area would be a community. In the community we are looking at we found two producers, green algae and diatoms. These producers are the beginning of the nutrient cycle in big creek. They take in sunlight and through photosynthesis they build proteins or sugars, which will be used by the next organisms in the nutrient cycle. The herbivores found were protozoans and water fleas. Both of these organisms feed on substances such as green algae and diatoms. The original sunlight has been made into sugars, which water fleas and protozoans can use to further the nutrient cycle in big creek. All of the organisms we will discuss have a particular niche in the big creek habitat. They all depend on each other to continue the cycle of growth in big creek. The two carnivores observed by the class were snails and fly larvae. Both of these organisms not only consume protozoans and water fleas, but they also consume diatoms and green algae. Once again cycling the nutrients further through the ecosystem. Also present in the ecosystem is the flow of energy through all of these organisms. All original energy came from the sun, which was then used by our producers, diatoms and green algae and converted into another form of energy that is used by herbivores and carnivores t ...