This is a summary of our notes today (below). You can see that glucose production and consumption are driving forces for many of our adaptations. You eat, breathe, and get rid of waste to serve some basic biochemistry going on inside your cells.
CARBON
IN AN ECOSYTEM
CARBON
HAS 3 IMPORTANT ROLES IN AN ECOSYSTEM
1.
CARBON
IS A BUILDING BLOCK for all life
2.
CARBON
IS USED AS FUEL FOR ENERGY
3.
CARBON
IS RECYCLED WITHIN THE ECOSYSTEM AND ON EARTH
1.
CARBON
IS A BUILDING BLOCK for all life:
a.
All
life forms within an ecosystem are made of carbon: plants, animals, fungi, algae, microbes. The carbohydrates, fats and proteins
within these life forms are made of carbon
b.
Carbon
is captured by plants through PHOTOSYNTHESIS and is used to make plants grow
c.
The
plants form the basis of the food web because animals get their carbon by
eating plants. Carnivores get
their carbon by eating herbivores
PLANTS
USE THE GLUCOSE MADE BY PHOTOSYNTHESIS FOR MANY PURPOSES:
AS
FUEL
AS
STORED GLUCOSE: in the form of starch
like in a potato
AS
CELLULOSE TO GROW BIGGER. : in the
form of fibre or CELLULOSE, like the fibrous parts of a celery,
the cell wall of a plant,
the trunk of a tree.
2.
CARBON
IS FUEL FOR ENERGY:
a.
CELLULAR
RESPIRATION takes place within both animal and plant cells
b.
Cellular
respiration causes ADP (adenosine diphosphate) to turn into ATP (or adenosine
triphosphate.)
c.
ATP
is used by all life forms for energy: After ATP is used, then it turns back
into ADP
i. Movement
ii. Heat
iii. Inner cell workings
iv. Animals use more ATP than
plants because animals move more
v. An analogy is to think
about ADP as a rechargeable battery and ATP as the charged up form.
d.
Cellular respiration explains why animals need to eat (to obtain
glucose) and breathe (to get oxygen) and exhale (to get rid of carbon dioxide)
and also pee (to get rid of excess water.
3.
CARBON
IS CYCLED IN THE ECOSYSTEM
Plants,
and other producers, take in carbon dioxide and water to make glucose and
oxygen
Animals
and other consumers take in oxygen and glucose and make carbon dioxide and
water.