Ciclos Biogeoquímicos y Cadenas Tróficas

Ciclos Biogeoquímicos

• Biogeochemical cycles are the continuous flows of elements like carbon, nitrogen, and water between the living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) parts of the environment.
• These cycles are essential for life because they continuously recycle essential nutrients.
• The water cycle involves evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection, moving water through the atmosphere and on Earth's surface.
• The carbon cycle involves the movement of carbon through the atmosphere, oceans, and living organisms. Photosynthesis and respiration are key processes in this cycle.
• The nitrogen cycle involves the conversion of nitrogen gas into usable forms for plants, animals, and decomposers. Bacteria play a vital role in these conversions.
• Examples of cycles include the water cycle, carbon cycle, oxygen cycle, nitrogen cycle, and phosphorus cycle.

Cadenas Tróficas

• A food chain shows the transfer of energy from one organism to another in an ecosystem.
• It begins with producers (plants), followed by consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores), and ends with decomposers.
• Producers make their own food through photosynthesis.
• Herbivores eat plants.
• Carnivores eat other animals.
• Omnivores eat both plants and animals.
• Decomposers break down dead organisms, returning nutrients to the soil.
• For example: Sun → Plant (producer) → Rabbit (herbivore) → Fox (carnivore) → Decomposers.
• Each step in a food chain is a trophic level.

Interacciones entre organismos

• Organisms in an ecosystem interact in various ways, affecting populations and communities.
• Competition occurs when organisms strive for the same resources, like food or territory.
• Predation occurs when one organism hunts and kills another for food.
• Symbiosis involves close interactions between different species.
• Mutualism is a symbiotic interaction where both species benefit, like bees and flowers.
• Commensalism is a symbiotic interaction where one species benefits and the other is neither harmed nor helped, like barnacles on a whale.
• Parasitism is a symbiotic interaction where one species (parasite) benefits at the expense of another (host), like a tick on a dog.
• These interactions are important because they shape and maintain the balances and diversity in ecosystems.

Este cuestionario explora los ciclos biogeoquímicos esenciales para la vida, como los ciclos del agua, carbono y nitrógeno, así como las cadenas tróficas que muestran la transferencia de energía en los ecosistemas. Aprenderás sobre el papel de los organismos y los procesos clave que mantienen estos ciclos en equilibrio.