Producers and Consumers

Three producers present at my site:

1. Breadfruit Tree

• For this producer, I think that it is able to feed around four species present at my site. A primary consumer of fallen breadfruits are worms. A secondary consumer that preys on worms are birds. The tertiary consumer that feeds on birds are cats.

2. Coconut Tree

• The coconut trees at my site are able to feed about two to three different species. A primary consumer would be ants. The secondary consumer that feeds on ants are lizards. The tertiary species that consumes the secondary consumers are birds.

3. Papaya Tree

• This producer can feed around six species at my site. One primary consumer of the tree's fruits are fruit flies. A secondary consumer that feeds on fruit flies are frogs. As surprising as it sounds, the tertiary consumer that feeds on frogs are coconut crabs.

Cellular Respiration

Overview of Cellular Respiration

When oxygen is present, cellular respiration releases chemical energy to make ATP from sugar and other carbon-based molecules. Since the mitochondrion can't make ATP directly from food, it depends on an aerobic process known as glycolysis. Glycolysis is a necessity for cellular respiration in order for the mitochondria to produce ATP. The two parts involved in cellular respiration are the matrix and the inner mitochondrial membrane.

From this lesson, I learned that cellular respiration has the reverse equation of photosynthesis. This means that the products of photosynthesis are the reactants of cellular respiration, which are sugar and CO2. I also learned that the Krebs cycle was named after the scientist who discovered the process. The Krebs cycle takes place in the mitochondria's inner space, also known as the matrix.

Cellular Respiration in Detail

Glycolysis takes place in the cytoplasm before the cellular respiration takes place. Cellular respiration is made up of two processes, which are the Krebs cycle and the electron transport chain. The Krebs cycle's main function is to transfer high energy electrons to molecules that carry them to the electron transport chain. The proteins utilize the energy from the electron transport chain to pump hydrogen ions against a concentration gradient.

I learned that cellular respiration makes many more ATP than glycolysis. The electron transport takes place in and across the inner mitochondrion. The difference between cellular respiration and photosynthesis is that cellular releases stored energy as ATP and sugar. In contrast photosynthesis stores energy from sunlight as chemical energy.