February 29, 2012

Beauty


Some flowers bloom in fall you know,
At summers end their blossoms show
And as the rose’s beauty falls
The dream of love will haunt us all.
Jewelry, like a portraits frame
Enhances beauty just the same.
A work of art is best by far
That tells the viewer who they are
But just as what I say is true,
A frame cannot change the view.
It cannot show a beauty fair
Where beauty first, was never there.
It cannot change a scowling face
To one that’s fair and full of grace.
It cannot fix a heart that’s blue
Or make a heart forever true.
Their is that beauty of a kind
That knows no boundaries of time
The shining of a soul inside
That none can ever hope to hide.
What ever shall I say to thee
That touches love’s sweet rhapsody
To embrace with time and heart
A truly lovely peace of art.
There is that loyalty of spirit
That one feels whenever near it
That so enthralls the heart of man
And searches then to understand
There is more to life then beauty,
Their is honor, love and duty
As in the heart that it entails,
Beauty wears so many vales.
Robert Browne

February 27, 2012

A Mask Of Beauty

A sheer smile skips those lips
How I want to hold your dearest mask
To think I am ashamed of thou beauty
Merely of adoration of each sensual amnesty
How fawn I am of your mask
To hide behind your beauty
I am the limp of a child that wonders with a thought
I put my hand on thee
And these hands want to know more
To close my eyes and dew soaks the stars
They shine no more
There beauty is diminished
I shall hide behind this mask as well
You will never be alone
Beauty has the eye of the beholder
Hold me dear love
And we shall look upon thy pupils
And we will make a stream of kisses
To beauty of wilderness we will create our own
To a world that is beauty
To a mask that shades underneath
A more over victory of passion over lust
A passion of beauty oh how I can taste it
Please fade with me from this world
And beauty will prevail
Through all the toils and snares
How I love you dearly
How my beauty shines for you
A red carpet for you to walk on
To follow
A love..
A beauty….
A dream….
Amberlee Spurling

Beautiful Memory


Today will be the past; come tomorrow
Why nothing or no one is above you
Today I will buy, steal, or borrow
So that the past reveals that I love you

I will yearn tomorrow for another today
Anything to strengthen our unity
The past is the map guiding the way
Every new day brings new opportunity

I will awaken knowing my primary goal
Accomplish something big or small
Fresh or increase something old
Deeds that will heighten our castle wall

I shall conduct myself in ways more than suitable
My gifts to the past will make memories beautiful

Tomorrow will deliver more affection and chivalry
I must today, make yesterday a beautiful memory

Yesterday will be the proof I was there
With facts that no one tried more
Applying layers of unwavering care
Flooding you with joy at the final score


It's ignited a passion that I have to vent
To stray from you; I cannot swallow
Necessary and a time well spent
Today will be the past; come tomorrow

Ron Harrell

February 26, 2012

Bright Star

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou ar t-
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains, and the moors -
No - yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To fed for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
An so live ever-or else swoon to death.

John Keats

February 25, 2012

Oxygen-Carbon Dioxide Cycle

The Carbon Dioxide- Oxygen Cycle relates to the relationship between Carbon Dioxide [CO2] breathing plants and Oxygen [O2] breathing lifeforms. All oxygen-breathing lifeforms take in Oxygen and exhale CO2. Plants take in the CO2 and use it in their photosynthesis process and in turn give off oxygen.

A:

The Carbon Dioxide-Oxygen Cycle is a continuously occurring process whereby animals inhale Oxygen and then exhale Carbon Dioxide, and plants use the CO2 and "exhale" O2.

A:

Plants and other producers use carbon dioxide in photosynthesis.
They produce oxygen as a waste product. Carbon dioxide moves
from the air into the leaves of plants. Oxygen moves from the
plant into the air through the leaves.

A:

Almost all living things, including plants, get energy from cellular
respiration. This process releases energy from the sugar molecules
in food. Oxygen is used in cellular respiration. Carbon dioxide is
produced as a waste product.

A:

The oxygen produced during photosynthesis is used in cellular
respiration. The carbon dioxide produced in cellular respiration is
used in photosynthesis. carbon dioxide and oxygen move through the ecosystem in this path called the CARBON DIOXIDE-OXYGEN CYCLE.

A:


During photosynthesis, algaet green plants take in CO2 from the air. They use CO2, along with H2O and the sun's energy, to make their own food (respiration). In this process, O2 is released as a waste product. Plants and animals need this oxygen to release energy from food.


A:

During photosynthesis green plants take in CO2 from the air. They use CO2 along with H2O and the sun's energy to make their own food (respiration). In this process O2 is released as a waste product. Plants and Animals need O2 to release energy from food. In the process O2 is taken in and CO2 is released. Carbon is also released as CO2 when organisms die and decay (work of decomposers).

A:

The carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle is the cycle in which living things (such as plants and animals) take in "oxygen" and let out "carbon dioxide."

A:

Humans & plants. Humans inhale oxygen, which is what plants excrete, and then the human excretes carbon dioxide, which the plants take in.

A.
In short plants release oxygen , that animals will take in and animals excrete carbon dioxide for the plants to produce their own food through photosynthesis .

February 24, 2012

Water Cycle

The Water Cycle (also known as the hydrologic cycle) is the journey water takes as it circulates from the land to the sky and back again.

The Sun's heat provides energy to evaporate water from the Earth's surface (oceans, lakes, etc.). Plants also lose water to the air (this is called transpiration). The water vapor eventually condenses, forming tiny droplets in clouds. When the clouds meet cool air over land, precipitation (rain, sleet, or snow) is triggered, and water returns to the land (or sea). Some of the precipitation soaks into the ground. Some of the underground water is trapped between rock or clay layers; this is called groundwater. But most of the water flows downhill as runoff (above ground or underground), eventually returning to the seas as slightly salty water.

WHY ARE THE OCEANS SALTY?


Oceans cover about 70% of the Earth's surface. The oceans contain roughly 97% of the Earth's water supply.
As water flows through rivers, it picks up small amounts of mineral salts from the rocks and soil of the river beds. This very-slightly salty water flows into the oceans and seas. The water in the oceans only leaves by evaporating (and the freezing of polar ice), but the salt remains dissolved in the ocean - it does not evaporate. So the remaining water gets saltier and saltier as time passes.

February 23, 2012

Energy Pyramid Part 1

An energy pyramid is a graphical model of energy flow in a community. The different levels represent different groups of organisms that might compose a food chain. From the bottom-up, they are as follows:
  • Producers — bring energy from nonliving sources into the community
  • Primary consumers — eat the producers, which makes them herbivores in most communities
  • Secondary consumers — eat the primary consumers, which makes them carnivores
  • Tertiary consumers — eat the secondary consumers
In some food chains, there is a fourth consumer level, and rarely, a fifth. Have you ever wondered why there are limits to the lengths of food chains?

Why are energy pyramids shaped the way they are?

An energy pyramid’s shape shows how the amount of useful energy that enters each level — chemical energy in the form of food — decreases as it is used by the organisms in that level. How does this happen?
Recall that cell respiration “burns” food to release its energy, and in doing so, produces ATP, which carries some of the energy as well as heat, which carries the rest. ATP is then used to fuel countless life processes. The consequence is that even though a lot of energy may be taken in at any level, the energy that ends up being stored there – which is the food available to the next level — is far less. Scientists have calculated that an average of 90% of the energy entering each step of the food chain is “lost” this way (although the total amount in the system remains unchanged).
The consumers at the top of a food pyramid, as a group, thus have much less energy available to support them than those closer to the bottom. That’s why their numbers are relatively few in most communities. Eventually, the amount of useful energy left can’t support another level. That’s why energy flow is depicted in the shape of a pyramid. The energy that enters a community is ultimately lost to the living world as heat.

February 22, 2012

Food Chain and Food Web Summary

What is the difference between food chain and a food web?

FOOD CHAINS FOLLOW A SINGLE PATH AS ANIMALS EAT EACH OTHER.
EXAMPLE:
  • THE SUN provides food for GRASS
  • The GRASS is eaten by a GRASSHOPPER
  • The GRASSHOPPER is eaten by a FROG
  • The FROG is eaten by a SNAKE
  • The SNAKE is eaten by a HAWK.

FOOD WEBS SHOW HOW PLANTS & ANIMALS ARE INTERCONNECTED BY DIFFERENT PATHS.

EXAMPLE:
  • TREES produce ACORNS which act as food for many MICE and INSECTS.
  • Because there are many MICE, WEASELS and SNAKES have food.
  • The insects and the acorns also attract BIRDS, SKUNKS, and OPOSSUMS.
  • With the SKUNKS, OPPOSUMS, WEASELS and MICE around, HAWKS, FOXES, and OWLS can find food.
  • They are all connected! Like a spiders web, if one part is removed, it can affect the whole web.
FOOD WEBS show how plants and animals are connected in many ways to help them all survive. FOOD CHAINS follow just one path of energy as animals find food.

February 20, 2012

Nalood na ako sa Energy Pyramid

An energy pyramid is the graphical representation of the trophic levels (nutritional) by which the incoming solar energy is transferred into an ecosystem. The source of energy for living beings on Earth is the Sun. The energy that the Sun emits at present is of 1366.75 W/m^2 (400 years ago, it was of 1363.48 W/m^2). When the studies of the capture of energy by the producer organisms (photosynthetic organisms) were made, the Solar Irradiance (SI) was of 1365.45 W/m^2. The energy usable by photosynthetic organisms is 697.04 W/m^2; nevertheless, the photosynthetic organisms take only 0.65 W/m^2 and the rest of the incident energy on the surface is transferred to the abiotic surroundings (oceans, soil, atmosphere, etc.) and from there, the energy is emitted to the outer space and to the Gravity field (Guth. 1999. Pp. 29-31). The atmosphere absorbs 191.345 W/m^2, maintaining the tropospheric temperature of Earth in the hospitable 35.40 °C (95.72 °F).

On the diagram, the ciphers expressed in the boxes at the left side of the pyramid represent the energy taken by each individual. For example, the amount of energy acquired by the herbivores is equivalent to the ingestion of one gram of organic material from photosynthetic organisms. Each subsequent amount of energy (green rectangle) in the pyramid (towards the peak) is the energy that would be obtained by each gram of organic material originated from the underlying level. Detritivores or detritivorous are organisms that fed on remnants of organic matter, like corpses, excrements, etc. Detritivores take advantage of ca. 57% from the energy stored by the producers.

February 18, 2012

Results of Junor Master Chef Pinoy Edition

Kyle-1st Place
Philip-2nd Place
Mika-3rd Place
Jobim-4th Place

Food Chain and Food Web

Do you like to play games? If you do, you will need energy. Every time you run or jump, you are using up energy in your body. How do you get the energy to play? You get energy from the food you eat. Similarly, all living things get energy from their food so that they can move and grow. As food passes through the body, some of it is digested. This process of digestion releases energy.

A food chain shows how each living thing gets its food. Some animals eat plants and some animals eat other animals. For example, a simple food chain links the trees & shrubs, the giraffes (that eat trees & shrubs), and the lions (that eat the giraffes). Each link in this chain is food for the next link. A food chain always starts with plant life and ends with an animal.


  1. Plants are called producers because they are able to use light energy from the Sun to produce food (sugar) from carbon dioxide and water.
  2. Animals cannot make their own food so they must eat plants and/or other animals. They are called consumers. There are three groups of consumers.

    1. Animals that eat ONLY PLANTS are called herbivores (or primary consumers).
    2. Animals that eat OTHER ANIMALS are called carnivores.

      • carnivores that eat herbivores are called secondary consumers
      • carnivores that eat other carnivores are called tertiary consumers
        e.g., killer whales in an ocean food web ... phytoplankton → small fishes → seals → killer whales

  3. Animals and people who eat BOTH animals and plants are called omnivores.
  4. Then there are decomposers (bacteria and fungi) which feed on decaying matter.

    These decomposers speed up the decaying process that releases mineral salts back into the food chain for absorption by plants as nutrients.

    Image Map of the Nitrogen Cycle - What happens in the soil?
Do you know why there are more herbivores than carnivores?

In a food chain, energy is passed from one link to another. When a herbivore eats, only a fraction of the energy (that it gets from the plant food) becomes new body mass; the rest of the energy is lost as waste or used up by the herbivore to carry out its life processes (e.g., movement, digestion, reproduction). Therefore, when the herbivore is eaten by a carnivore, it passes only a small amount of total energy (that it has received) to the carnivore. Of the energy transferred from the herbivore to the carnivore, some energy will be "wasted" or "used up" by the carnivore. The carnivore then has to eat many herbivores to get enough energy to grow.

Because of the large amount of energy that is lost at each link, the amount of energy that is transferred gets lesser and lesser ...


  1. The further along the food chain you go, the less food (and hence energy) remains available.
  2. The above energy pyramid shows many trees & shrubs providing food and energy to giraffes. Note that as we go up, there are fewer giraffes than trees & shrubs and even fewer lions than giraffes ... as we go further along a food chain, there are fewer and fewer consumers. In other words, a large mass of living things at the base is required to support a few at the top ... many herbivores are needed to support a few carnivores
  3. Most food chains have no more than four or five links.

    There cannot be too many links in a single food chain because the animals at the end of the chain would not get enough food (and hence energy) to stay alive.

    Most animals are part of more than one food chain and eat more than one kind of food in order to meet their food and energy requirements. These interconnected food chains form a food web
  4. A change in the size of one population in a food chain will affect other populations.

    This interdependence of the populations within a food chain helps to maintain the balance of plant and animal populations within a community. For example, when there are too many giraffes; there will be insufficient trees and shrubs for all of them to eat. Many giraffes will starve and die. Fewer giraffes means more time for the trees and shrubs to grow to maturity and multiply. Fewer giraffes also means less food is available for the lions to eat and some lions will starve to death. When there are fewer lions, the giraffe population will increase.

February 16, 2012

Quiz on Biology

Biology

Answer the following multiple choice questions:

1. The _________________ is part of the Earth in which life exists. It includes the land, water, and air/atmosphere.
A. biosphere
B. habitat
C. niche
D. community
2. ________________ are organisms that break down and obtain energy from dead organic matter.
A. Producers
B. Decomposers
C. Autotrophs
D. Herbivores

3. The full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organism uses these conditions is known as a _______________.
A. biosphere
B. habitat
C. niche
D. community

4. A _______________ is a step in the food chain.
A. community
B. biosphere
C. food web
D. trophic level

5. The scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment is _________________.
A. biosphere
B. ecology
C. trophic level
D. community

6. ________________ is/are the ultimate source of energy for all life on Earth.
A. Plants
B. Decomposers
C. Sunlight
D. Water

7. During _______________, autotrophs use light energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and energy-rich carbohydrates such as sugars and starches.
A. chemosynthesis
B. photosynthesis
C. evaporation
D. nitrogen fixation

8. The biological influences on organisms within an ecosystem are called _______________.
A. biotic factors
B. abiotic factors
C. nonrenewable resources
D. biomes

9. The energy stored by producers can be passed through an ecosystem along a ________________, a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten.
A. food web
B. habitat
C. niche
D. food chain

10. A(n) ________________ is a diagram that shows the relative amounts of energy or matter contained within each trophic level in a food chain or food web.
A. ecological pyramid
B. biosphere
C. biome
D. green revolution

11. A _______________ is a group of ecosystems that have the same climate and dominant communities.
A. biosphere
B. biome
C. niche
D. habitat

12. Physical, or nonliving, factors that shape ecosystems are _______________.
A. communities
B. biotic factors
C. abiotic factors
D. trophic levels

13. A group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area is known as a _______________.
A. species
B. population
C. niche
D. community

14. A __________________ is an assemblage of different populations that live together in a defined area.
A. species
B. population
C. niche
D. community

15. An organism that obtains energy by eating animals are known as _______________.
A. carnivore
B. herbivore
C. detritivore
D. producer

16. A network of complex interactions formed by the feeding relationships amoung the various organisms in an ecosystem is a _________________ .
A. food web
B. trophic level
C. food chain
D. community

17. ________________ is the process by which some organisms use chemical energy to produce carbohydrates.
A. Photosynthesis
B. Cell Respiration
C. Chemosynthesis
D. Fermentation

18. A _______________ is an organism that can capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to produce food from inorganic compounds.
A. consumer
B. producer
C. decomposer
D. heterotroph

19. The total ammount of living tissue within a given trophic level is known as _______________.
A. biomass
B. biosphere
C. food chain
D. niche

20. _________________ is the process in which elements, chemical compounds, and other forms of matter are passed from one organism to another and from one part of the biosphere to another.
A. Biosphere
B. Limiting nutrients
C. Biogeochemical cycle
D. Community

21. ________________ is any chemical substance that an organism requires to live.
A. Carbohydrate
B. Nutrient
C. Sunlight
D. Water

22. _________________ is the process of converting nitrogen gas into ammonia.
A. Chemosynthesis
B. Photosynthesis
C. Evaporation
D. Nitrogen fixation

23. In ecology, the term _______________ is used to describe wise management of natural resources, including the preservation of habitats and wildlife.
A. conservation
B. biodiversity
C. invasive species
D. extinction

24. The Sum total of the variety of organisms in the biosphere is called _______________.
A. a biotic factor
B. an abiotic factor
C. biodiversity
D. a population

25. _________________ is the science that seeks to understand the living world.
A. biology
B. ecology
C. chemistry
D. physics

February 15, 2012

What Makes You Beautiful?

What Makes You Beautiful?
By One Direction

You're insecure, don't know what for
You're turning heads when you walk through the do-o-or
Don't need make-up - to cover up
Being the way that you are is eno-o-ough

Everyone else in the room can see it
Everyone else but yo-ou

Baby you light up my world like nobody else
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
But when you smile at the ground, it ain't hard to tell
You don't know
Oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful!
If only you saw what I can see
You'll understand why I want you so desperatley
Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe
You don't know
Oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful!
Oh oh
That's what makes you beautiful!

So girl come on, you got it wrong
To prove I'm right I put it in a so-o-ong
I don't know why, you're being shy
And turn away when I look in to your eye eye eyes

Everyone else in the room can see it
Everyone else but yo-ou

Baby you light up my world like nobody else
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
But when you smile at the ground, it ain't hard to tell
You don't know
Oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful!

If only you saw what I can see
You'll understand why I want you so desperatley
Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe
You don't know
Oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful!
Oh oh
That's what makes you beautiful!

Na na na na na na naaaa na na,
Na na na na na na.
Na na na na na na naaaa na na,
Na na na na na na.

Baby you light up my world like nobody else
The way that you flip you're hair gets me overwhelmed
But when you smile at the ground, it ain't hard to tell
You don't know
Oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful!

Baby you light up my world like nobody else
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
But when you smile at the ground, it ain't hard to tell
You don't know
No Oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful!
If only you saw what I can see
You'll understand why I want you so desperatley
Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe
You don't know
No Oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful!
No Oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful!
No Oh oh
That's what makes you beautiful!

February 14, 2012

Interaction Among Organisms(Symbiotic Relationship)

There are 6 different kinds of symbiotic relationships:
  1. Mutualism, where both species benefit
  2. Commensalism, where one species benefits, the other is unaffected
  3. Parasitism, where one species benefits, the other is harmed
  4. Competition, where neither species benefits
  5. Neutralism, where both species are unaffected
  6. Predation, one of the animal is the predator and the other one is the prey.
Examples:
Mutualism- honeybee and flower
Commensalism- arctic fox and caribou
Parasitism- puppy and roundworm

Valentines Day Quotes & Messages

Quotes:

If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I.
Michel de Montaigne

Messages:
 
__________,
I Love You a lot...
These words are not enough to express you how much I Love u.
You come in my life as an angel of the GOD and make my life so brightful, colorful and full of love. I always pray to God to tie us in a sacred knot soon so that we spend each and every moment together. You always support me, care me, love me.. I m always thankful to GOD who gave me such a true & loving heart person in my life...
Happy Valentines Day!! My Love of Life...
Miss U...
Urs Love
_______

February 13, 2012

Gerund, Participle or Infinitive?

 English

Copy & Answer this in a size 1 paper. Then I will check it afterwards.


1) Facing college standards, the students realized that they hadn't worked hard enough in high school.
2) Swimming in your pool is always fun.
3) The college recommends sending applications early.
4) Mrs. Sears showing more bravery than wisdom invited thirty boys and girls to a party.
5) To be great is to be true to yourself and to the highest principles of honor.
6) He won the game by scoring during the overtime period.
7) Jim is expected to program computers at his new job.
8) Her most important achievement was winning the national championship.
9) Going to work today took all my energy.
10) The student left in charge of the class was unable to keep order.
11) The president wants to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
12) Fighting for a losing cause made them depressed.
13) Getting up at five, we got an early start.
14) Telling your father was a mistake.
15) The crying boy angered by the bully began to fight.
16) Applicants must investigate various colleges learning as much as possible about them before applying for admission.
17) Statistics reported by the National Education Association revealed that seventy percent of American colleges offer remedial English classes emphasizing composition.
18) Gathering my courage, I asked for a temporary loan.
19) Starting out as an army officer Karen's father was frequently transferred.
20) To fight against those odds would be ridiculous.

February 12, 2012

Basics of Ecology

Ecology (from Greek: οἶκος, "house"; -λογία, "study of") is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount (biomass), number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems. Ecosystems are hierarchical systems that are organized into a graded series of regularly interacting and semi-independent parts (e.g., species) that aggregate into higher orders of complex integrated wholes (e.g., communities). Ecosystems are sustained by the biodiversity within them. Biodiversity is the full-scale of life and its processes, including genes, species and ecosystems forming lineages that integrate into a complex and regenerative spatial arrangement of types, forms, and interactions. Ecosystems create biophysical feedback mechanisms between living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) components of the planet. These feedback loops regulate and sustain local communities, continental climate systems, and global biogeochemical cycles.

Ecological Organization Pyramid:

The study of ecology has many layers, ranging from the individual organism, to the population, to the ecosystem, to the planet. It is important for students to know the levels within this hierarchy and to recognize which level they are focusing on at any one time. For the purposes of this activity, students will learn about the different levels (organism, population, community, ecosystem, biome, and biosphere) by choosing an organism and the illustrating a pyramid about that organism. The result is a colorful display of organizational pyramids.
Objectives
Can define and explain the relationships among: individual organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, biomes, and the biosphere.
Can explain some of the reasons why different regions of the globe have different climates, and thus support different biomes.
Can describe the characteristics of familiar biomes: tundra, desert, prairie (grassland), deciduous forest, tropical rain forest, ocean.
Vocabulary
Organism
Population
Community
Ecosystem
Biome
Biosphere
Tundra
Desert
Prairie
Deciduous forest
Tropical rain forest
Ocean

February 11, 2012

Science: Scope and Sequence 4th Quarter

UNIT 7 – MOTION AND WORK



Content Standard:

The learner demonstrates understanding on force, the laws of motion, and pressure in relation to observance of safety measures.



Performance Standard:

Learners, working in groups, integrate their understanding of force, the laws of motion and pressure in a clear, practical/applicable and comprehensive guide on safety and protection.



TOPIC
Force
Types of Force
1st Law of Motion
2nd Law of Motion
3rd Law of Motion
Force & Pressure
Pressure of Fluids
Long Test
Work
Simple machines
Work input & work output
Power






























UNIT 8 – ENERGY



Content Standard:

The learner demonstrates understanding of the importance of advocating efficient energy transfer.



Performance Standard:

Learners, working in groups, advocate efficient use of energy and its alternative sources in the community through a cooperatively planned, relevant, comprehensive, accurate and creative or innovative activity.




TOPIC
Potential & Kinetic energy
Forms of energy
Energy transformation
Renewable & Nonrenewable sources of energy
Conservation of energy













UNIT 9 – ECOLOGY



Content Standard:

The learner demonstrates understanding of humans as stewards of our finite earth. 



Performance Standard:

Learners, working in groups, contribute to conservation of resources and/or solution of an ecological problem existing in the immediate community through the cooperative conduct of an innovative/ creative environmental activity or project.

           



TOPICS
Characteristics of Living things
The Cell
Cell structure & function
Living Things & their Environment
Ecosystem
Habitat & Niche
Characteristics of Ecosystems
Energy flow
Long Test
Bio-Geo Cycles
Carbon dioxide – Oxygen cycle
Nitrogen cycle
Sulfur cycle
Man & His Environment
Human Impact on Ecosystem
Conservation of Natural resources
Forest & wildlife conservation
Water & Air conservation





































4TH Quarter Performance Task: Science Investigatory Project




Textbook: You and the Natural World - Integrated Science; L. Vengco, T. Religioso



References:

1.       Exploring Science by CDIS

2.       Prentice Hall: The Nature of Science

3.       Glencoe: Physical Science

4.       Glencoe: Science Voyages

5.       Glencoe: General Science                                 
6.      Prentice Hall: Physics 

February 10, 2012

Ecological Communities, Ecological Habitat and Ecological Niche

Ecological Community

-An ecological community is defined as a group of actually or potentially interacting species living in the same place.


Ecological Niche

-The Ecological Niche of an organism describes how that particular individual "fits" into its ecosystem. Within its habitat, it must make use of available resources, withstand abitoic and biotic factors, with the help of adaptations. In other words, a niche is the role that the individual organism plays in its nonliving and living environment. 

Ecological Habitat

-Technically, a habitat is where a specific species lives, and describes the location in physical terms (ocean, salt marsh, sandy beach). A "biome" is a type of habitat unassociated with a species. For example, you will find the "boreal forest" biome in two continents, but only one of them is habitat for the north American Snowy Owl.

11 Characteristics of Living Things

Defining "life" is a very difficult task, and scientists don’t all agree on a common list of the characteristics of life. Some of the other characteristics that the students may discover in their research, and which are often listed in textbooks, include those listed below. Many of these traits are not limited to living things. For example, fire uses energy, grows, and can reproduce, but it is not considered alive in part because it cannot evolve; its traits are necessary, but not sufficient, for life. NASA scientist Bruce Jakosky, in his book The Search for Life on Other Planets, provides a generally accepted definition of something being “alive” if it 1) utilizes energy from some source to drive chemical reactions, 2) is capable of reproduction, and 3) can undergo evolution.

Characteristics of Living Things
  • All organisms use energy (metabolism).
  • All organisms maintain a stable internal environment (homeostasis).
  • All organisms detect and respond to select external stimuli.
  • All organisms can engage in movement (which may occur internally, or even at the cellular level).
  • All organisms show growth and development; that is, specialization of cells or structures. (Even unicellular organisms show a tiny amount of growth, and single cells repair and use materials from the environment to replace internal structures as needed.)
  • All organisms reproduce. (Even if an individual can’t reproduce, its species can.) In addition, an individual’s cells are constantly reproducing themselves.
  • All organisms have nucleic acid as the hereditary molecule.
  • All organisms show adaptation, which occurs at the individual level and is tightly related to homeostasis.
  • All organisms are made of one or more cells.
  • All organisms exhibit complex organization, grouping molecules together to form cells; at a higher level, cells are organized into tissues, organs, and organ systems.
  • All organisms exhibit evolution over time due to mutation and natural selection (which operates at the species level).

Components of Ecosystem

There are two components: ABIOTIC AND BIOTIC COMPONENTS

ABIOTIC COMPONENTS:
Sunlight
Temperature
Precipitation
Water or Moisture
Soil or water chemistry

BIOTIC COMPONENTS:
Primary Producers
Herbivores
Carnivores
Omnivores

However these are some other abiotic and biotic components:

OTHER ABIOTIC COMPONENTS

Abiotic components are such physical and chemical factors of an ecosystem as light, temperature, atmosphere gases(nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide are the most important), water, wind, soil. These specific abiotic factors represent the geological, geographical, hydrological and climatological features of a particular ecosystem. Separately:

* Water, which is at the same time an essential element to life and a milieu
* Air, which provides oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide to living species and allows the dissemination of pollen and spores
* Soil, at the same time source of nutriment and physical support. The salinity, nitrogen and phosphorus content, ability to retain water, and density are all influential.
* Temperature, which should not exceed certain extremes, even if tolerance to heat is significant for some species
* Light, which provides energy to the ecosystem through photosynthesis
* Natural disasters can also be considered abiotic. According to the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, a moderate amount of disturbance does good to increase the biodiversity.


OTHER BIOTIC COMPONENTS

The living organisms are the biotic components of an ecosystem. In ecosystems, living things are classified after the way they get their food.

Biotic Components include the following:

Autotrophs produce their own organic nutrients for themselves and other members of the community; therefore, they are called the producers. There are basically two kinds of autotrophs, "chemoautotrophs and photoautogrophs. "

Chemautotrophs are bacteria that obtain energy by oxidizing inorganic compounds such as ammonia, nitrites, and sulfides , and they use this energy to synthesize carbohydrates.

Photoautotrophs are photosynthesizers such as algae and green plants that produce most of the organic nutrients for the biosphere.

Heterotrophs, as consumers that are unable to produce, are constantly looking for source of organic nutrients from elsewhere. Herbivores like giraffe are animals that graze directly on plants or algae. Carnivores as wolf feed on other animals; birds that feed on insects are carnivores, and so are hawks that feed on birds. Omnivores are animals that feed both on plants and animals, as human.

Detritivores - organisms that rely on detritus, the decomposing particles of organic matter, for food. Earthworms and some beetles, termites, and maggots are all terrestrial detritivores.

Nonphotosynthetic bacteria and fungi, including mushrooms, are decomposers that carry out decomposition, the breakdown of dead organic matter, including animal waste. Decomposers perform a very valuable service by releasing inorganic substances that are taken up by plants once more.