Ecosystem Processes

• Producers make their own food.
• Producers are the beginning of the food chain.
• Consumers eat the producers.
• The process of producers making their own food is photosynthesis.
• Photosynthesis

  carbon dioxide + water ---> glucose + oxygen
• The energy for photosynthesis comes from light.
• Chloroplasts carry out photosynthesis.
• Chlorophyll makes chloroplasts green.
• Water enters the plant through root hair cells.
• Xylem tubes transport water through a plant.
• Carbon dioxide enters the leaf through stomata - tiny holes in the leaves.
• Guard cells control the opening and closing of stomata.
• Leaves have a large surface area to absorb alot of light
• Waxy layer on a leaf reduces water loss
• Palisade layer has the most chloroplasts meaning photosynthesis is mainly carried out there.
• The spongy layer has air spaces.
• Aerobic Respiration

  glucose + oxygen --> carbon dioxide + water
• Respiration takes place in mitochondria.
• Red blood cells have haemoglobin which carries oxygen.
• Anaerobic Respiration: Glucose + oxygen ---> lactic acid + energy
• Oxygen debt is breathing heavily after exercise to get oxygen to break down lactic acid.
• Anaerobic Respiration in yeast produces ethanol + carbon dioxide.
• Anaerobic respiration in yeast is fermentation.
• 1st organism in food chain

  producer
• 2nd organism in food chain

  primary consumer ( herbivore )
• 3rd organism in food chain

  secondary consumer ( carnivore )
• Arrows in a food chain show energy flow
• Most food chains have 4 or 5 links as there is not enough energy left to support another organism
• Interconnected food chains are food webs.