Biotic and Abiotic Components: Matter, Energy, Photosynthesis

Posted on Jan 25, 2025 in Biology

Biotic and Abiotic Components: Matter and Energy

  • Biotic and abiotic components are made of matter. Matter is what holds a place in the ecosystem, has weight and volume, undergoes transformations, and may or may not have its own form. The world is classified into organic matter (in living organisms and their derivatives, proteins, fats, sugars, etc.) and inorganic matter (in the inanimate world, living things like water, minerals, gases).
  • Organic Matter: Whenever hydrogen is composed of carbon and sometimes oxygen, nitrogen (CHON). They have plenty of atoms, abundant chemical energy in a potential state, and large molecules.
  • Inorganic matter: Reduced size of molecules, atoms have fewer and fewer energy, and any combination of atoms.
  • A material system is composed of units that maintain the characteristic properties of this matter called molecules (formed by one or more atoms, may be the same or different).
  • Link energy is the energy that binds the atoms of the molecules.

Energy in Ecosystems

  • Force is able to produce work, and that is used is transformed into another form of energy, never disappearing. Each time you do a job, there is no transformation of matter and energy.
  • Types:
    • Potential Energy: It is the one that remains intact to be used. Ex: Firewood when not used (e.g., rich chemistry)
    • Kinetic Energy: It is what allows scrolling. Ex: swimming, flying, jogging.
    • Mechanical Energy: It is produced by the moving parts of a being or a machine. Ex: fan blades
    • Light Energy: It is perceived as light. Ex: flame, sunlight
    • Electrical Energy: It is what allows conduction of impulses. Ex: electric waves, brain and heart activity
    • Chemical Energy: It is what is contained in all compounds. Ex: food, gasoline, wood.
    • Caloric Energy: It manifests as heat and is the most degraded form of energy as it dissipates into the atmosphere without being reused.

Material: Wood → Carbon dioxide, smoke → ash (waste processing)

Energy: Chemical potential → light, heat (dissipated in the atmosphere)

Photosynthesis: The Basis of Life

  • Process: Vegetables contain in green organs (leaves and herbaceous stems) a pigment capable of capturing the sun’s light energy, chlorophyll, contained in the chloroplasts (microscopic structures). The light energy is converted into chemical energy that is encased in elaborate organic molecules deposited in storage organs (stems, roots, seeds, fruits) and will be transferred to a herbivore when it eats the plant.
  • Photosynthesis: Phenomenon of processing organic matter in the presence of light, carried out only by plants.
  • Formula: 6 H2O + 6 CO2 → (Sunlight, Chlorophyll) → C6H12O6 + 6 O2
  • The water absorbed by plant roots and runs through the leaves reaches the light energy trapped by chlorophyll, breaks down water molecules, separating the atoms. The oxygen is released into the atmosphere through the stomata. The hydrogen atoms are attached to the carbon dioxide absorbed by the captured energy is transformed into chemical energy. The substance formed is a simple carbohydrate consisting of CHO, is soluble in water (can be easily transported to the organs that need it). By joining, they form a complex carbohydrate called starch (not water-soluble and stored in special organs such as stems, roots, and cotyledons).
  • Held by: Producers
  • Time: Daytime
  • Objective: Formation of organic substances, inorganic uptake, gas exchange
  • Water: It is absorbed and transported
  • Oxygen: Removed
  • Organic Matter: Synthesized/made
  • Carbon dioxide: Consumed
  • Energy use: Joined
  • Types of energy: Heat, Light, Chemical

Cellular Respiration: Energy Release

  • Green plants produce energy-rich food through photosynthesis. These organisms are called producers.
  • Animals consume energy foods already prepared, for what they are called consumers.
  • To disarm the chemical energy of food, food must be combined with oxygen (oxidize), taking as a result, the release and use of energy, transformed into simple inorganic molecules.
  • When combined with any substance or O2. The foods on the body of living beings, when combined with oxygen, a phenomenon called cellular respiration and biological oxidation or combustion of food occurs in cells of plants, animals, humans, and microscopic structures called mitochondria.