Benchmark 5E The Living Environment: Flow of Matter and Energy

Benchmark 5E
The Living Environment: Flow of Matter and Energy
Grades 9-12, page 121

The amount of life any environment can support is limited by the available energy, water, oxygen, and minerals, and by the ability of ecosystems to recycle the residue of dead organic materials. Human activities and technology can change the flow and reduce the fertility of the land.

NSES Content Standard C
Life Science: The interdependence of organisms
Grades 9-12, page 186
Living organisms have the capacity to produce populations of infinite size, but environments and resources are finite. This fundamental tension has profound effects on the interactions between organisms.

NSES Content Standard C
Life Science: Matter, energy, and organization in living systems
Grades 9-12, page 186
The distribution and abundance of organisms and populations in ecosystems are limited by the availability of matter and energy and the ability of the ecosystem to recycle materials.

NSES Content Standard F
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives: Natural resources
Grades 9-12, page 198
The earth does not have infinite resources; increasing human consumption places severe stress on the natural processes that renew some resources, and it depletes those resources that cannot be renewed.

NSES Content Standard F
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives: Environmental quality
Grades 9-12, page 198
Natural ecosystems provide an array of basic processes that affect humans. Those processes include maintenance of the quality of the atmosphere, generation of soils, control of the hydrologic cycle, disposal of wastes, and recycling of nutrients. Humans are changing many of these basic processes, and the changes may be detrimental to humans.