Adam Capwell AP Biology Scavengerhunt PIctures 1-7

This apple tree in my backyard is a producer. It produces energy from sunlight and carbon dioxide, water, and chemical nutrients in the soil. This energy moves on through the ecosystem of my backyard as primary consumers such as birds, rabbits, squirrels, and the occasional deer eat these apples and use water, and oxygen to convert them to food energy.

This is my dog Lucy, she belongs to the genus of canis. Genus is the taxonomic classification that is the first word in an organism's scientific name, and is the classification before spiecies. Genus's group closely related species allowing for taxonomists to group species more accurately.

This is a picture of my little brother, he is a hominoid. A hominoid is a term used to describe any great ape or human. Hominoids are classified as mammals that have larger brains in relation to body size, rely on eyesight rather than smell, and have fully opposable thumbs. (This particular hominoid was not in a smiling mood at this time).

The pine tree in this photograph is a conifer. Conifers are unique in the fact that unlike other trees they produce cones as a method of reproduction, these cones contain all of the trees reproductive functions while other trees' seeds only contain the female portion of their reproductive systems. Conifer cones can develop into male or female gametophytes. 

This mushroom belongs to the phylum of basidiomycetes these are some of the most recognizable fungi including mushrooms, shelf fungi, and puffballs. They are named after their spore producing structure, the basidium, and specialize in breaking down lignin in wood, which they use to create energy.

This pond behind my house in an example of an ecosystem. This pond is a breeding ground for mosquitoes and frogs which lay their eggs in the water. Fish feed off these organisms after they hatch, and are in turn fed on by ducks and a blue heron that stops by for a few weeks every year ( I would get a picture of him but its too early in the year) these birds eventually die, releasing nutrients into the soil as they are broken down by decomposers. These nutrients will be used by plants to create energy that will be transferred to future organisms. Forming a complete ecosystem right in my backyard.

These oak trees in my backyard show the that it is a Temperate Broadleaf Forest. These forests from in the midlatitude regions of the world where there is enough moisture to support large trees, most of the eastern United States support broadleaf forests. The dominant trees in this biome are oak, maple, brich, hickory and beech. These trees all have an annual rythm of losing their leaves each fall to conserve energy during the cold winter months.