...Tundra is the coldest of all the biomes. Tundra comes from the Finnish word tunturi, meaning treeless plain. It is noted for its frost-molded landscapes, extremely low temperatures, little precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing seasons. Dead organic material functions as nutrient pool. The two major nutrients are nitrogen and phosphorus. Nitrogen is created by biological fixation, and phosphorus is created by precipitation. Characteristics of tundra include: 1. Extremely cold climate 2. Low biotic diversity 3. Simple vegetation structure 4. Limitation of drainage 5. Short season of growth and reproduction 6. Energy and nutrients in the form of dead organic material 7. Large population oscillations Tundra is separated into two types: Arctic tundra Alpine tundra Tundra along the Colville River, Alaska. Arctic tundra From left: tundra near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada; tundra in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Arctic tundra is located in the northern hemisphere, encircling the north pole and extending south to the coniferous forests of the taiga. The arctic is known for its cold, desert-like conditions. The growing season ranges from 50 to 60 days. The average winter temperature is -34° C (-30° F), but the average summer temperature is 3-12° C (37-54° F) which enables this biome to sustain life. Rainfall may vary in different regions of the arctic. Yearly precipitation, including melting snow, is 15 to 25 cm (6 to...
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...Explain how different factors can influence the variations in global biodiversity (10 marks) The biodiversity of the planet Earth is the total variability of life forms. There are around 1.9 million extant species. There are many factors that can influence the variations in global biodiversity which can be either physical or human. The size of an area heavily decides the variations in biodiversity. The bigger the area, the larger the biodiversity, as large continuous biomes can support a wider range of species and extensive boundaries can encourage migration. Also, a larger area is more susceptible to a variety in climate, which can support a variation in species. A good example of this factor taking place is the Amazon Rainforest. This vast area of 5,500,000 sq.km located in the Amazon Basin of South America has the largest collection of animal and plant species in the world, as wet tropical forests are the most species-rich biome. It is home to 10% of the world’s known biodiversity. History and age shows that older and least disturbed ecosystems, is where there is generally higher biodiversity, especially in the tropics, where there are few physical constraints on productivity. Older ecosystems have a greater biodiversity as there is a longer time period for new species to evolve. Not only for new species, but also for migratory species such as birds. Disturbed ecosystems, where deforestation and land reclamation occurs, decreases biodiversity by destroying habitats and...
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...A biome is a group of ecosystems that share similar climates and organisms. In Miller and Levine Biology, 10 biomes are discussed. They are the Tropical Rain Forest, Tropical Dry Forest, Tropical Grassland, the Desert, Temperate Grassland, Temperate Woodland, Temperate Forest, Northwestern Coniferous Forest, Boreal Forest, and the Tundra. They all have a vast amount of differences between all of the biomes, and they will be discussed. Although not discussed in the book, the taiga is the biggest biome. The average temperature of the taiga is 32 degrees fahrenheit with about 12 to 33 inches of precipitation per year. There is little diversity in plant life. A few broad leaf tree species live in the taiga but mostly evergreen trees are the only ones that have adapted to really thrive in this environment. There are some animals that have adapted to live in the cold and snowy environment. A predator called the ermine has a thick coat of dark fur that turns white in the winter. The snowshoe rabbit also has a fur that turns white in the winter. The wolverine is able to mate during ideal conditions by delayed implantation in which they suspend dormant fertilized eggs until the conditions are ideal for bearing their young. Rainforests are the most diverse having more than 15 million species living in the biome. The rainforest biome is sometimes separated into two different biomes. They are referred to as tropical and temperate. The tropical rainforests are located between the Tropic...
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...Grasslands are one of the most widespread vegetation types worldwide, accounting for nearly one fifth of the earth’s land .They represent the most important sources of livestock forage, biodiversity, and contribute to the aesthetics and diversity of rural landscapes. Furthermore grasslands play a vital role in global carbon cycling and biodiversity of conversation. There are six terrestrial biomes with which grassland is a part. The five other includes tundra, desert, taiga, deciduous forest and tropical rainforest. Grassland biome includes prairies and open fields and has a wild distribution. It is subjected to all variations of temperature in the temperate zones, from freezing to extremely cold temperatures. It undergoes all the vicissitudes of seasonal climatic factors of wind, rain, and etc. (Elton, C.S., 1927). Elton, C.S. on his book on “The Ecology of Invasion by Animals and Plants, 1958” added that, the physical factors that affect grasslands include temperature, light intensity, wind direction and wind velocity, amount of rain or breeding places. First, temperature being an important factor affects animals inhabiting grasslands in such way that any changes in the temperature can affect the optimum temperature required by these animals, therefore alters their metabolic body activities. Light intensity is another factor that affects grasslands because producers in that area undergoes photosynthesis which requires light that will be used up by animals that depend on plants...
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...The Arctic and subarctic regions Compared with other biomes, the tundra biome is relatively young, having its origin in the Pleistocene (1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago). Individual plant and animal species of the tundra, however, probably first appeared in the Late Miocene (11.2 to 5.3 million years ago) or Early Pliocene (5.3 to 3.4 million years ago). Coniferous forests were present on Ellesmere Island and in northern Greenland, the northernmost land areas, in the mid-Pliocene (2.5 million years ago). Most paleoecologists believe that tundra flora evolved from plants of the coniferous forests and alpine areas as continents drifted into higher and cooler latitudes during the Miocene (23.7 to 5.3 million years ago). The Antarctic region Antarctica has been isolated from other continental landmasses by broad expanses of ocean since early in the Tertiary Period, about 60 to 40 million years ago. Prior to its separation it existed, along with Australia, South America, peninsular India, and Africa, as part of the landmass known as Gondwanaland. This long separation has impeded the establishment and development of land-based flora and fauna in the Antarctic. Other significant factors that have hampered terrestrial biotic evolution are the harsh climate, the ice cover that completely engulfed the continent during the Pleistocene glaciations, and the present limited number of ice-free land areas, which are restricted primarily to the coastal fringes and nunataks (mountain peaks surrounded...
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...information in the exhibit human population has exploded since the invention of agriculture and people are transforming the land for farming and the industrial revolution has increased the rate of expansion of cities, roads and manufacturing facilities. I agree that we need to preserve biodiversity as it makes up the structure of the ecosystem and habitats that support essential living resources, including wildlife, fisheries and forests. It also helps provide for basic human needs such as food, shelter and medicine. 3. Biome is a very large area on the earth’s surface with animals and plants adapting to their environment. Biomes are often defined by abiotic factors such as climate, geology, soils and vegetation. The nine Biomes are described in the Hall are Tropical Forests, Tropical Grassland and Savannas, Deserts, Island, Tundra, Temperate and Boreal Forests, Oceans, Freashwater Wetland, Rivers and Lakes, and Coral Reefs and Coastal Wetlands. 4. My favorite Biome is the Tropical Forests- Location- Near the equator in central and south America, parts of Africa and Asia. Characteristics: Hot, humid with equatorial climate and...
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...Biomes Tropical rainforest: * What: Hot and wet areas with broadleaved evergreen forest * Where: Within 5°N and S of the equator * Climate, limiting factors: High rainfall(2000-5000 mm yr-1), high temperatures( 26-28°) and high insolation, P>E rain washes nutrients out of the soil, so nutrients may limit plant growth * Structure: amazingly high levels of biodiversity: plants compete for light thus growing tall to absorb it, so there is a multi-storey profile to the forests called stratification. Many niches and habitat for animals and large mammals can get enough food * Net productivity: produce 40% of NPP of terrestrial ecosystems. Fast rates of decomposition, respiration and photosynthesis. Biomass gain very high, rapid recycling of nutrients * Human activity: more than 50% of world’s human population live in the tropics/subtropics forests exploited e.g. nutrients quickly exhausted by agriculture, commercial logging of timber * Issues: logging, conversion to grazing and to plantations forests exploited for economic development * Examples: Amazon rainforest, Borneo rainforest Desert: * What: dry areas usually hot in the day and cold at night as skies are clear and there is little vegetation to insulate the ground. Tropical, temperate, cold deserts * Where: cover 20-30% of the Earth’s land surface, about 30°N and S of the equator where dry air descends. Most are in the middle of continents * Climate, limiting factors: water...
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...MEDITERRANEAN SCRUB Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, as defined by the World Wildlife Federation, is known for dry summers and rainy winters. Summers are typically hot in low-lying inland locations but can be cool near colder seas and oceans. Winters are typically mild to cool in low-lying locations but can be cold in inland and higher locations. The Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome occurs in the world's five Mediterranean climate zones, on the west coast of continents in the mid-latitudes, the Mediterranean Basin, Chilean Mattoral, California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of California and the Baja California Peninsula, Western Cape of South Africa, and last but not least the Southwest Australia corner area. These regions are home to a great amount diversity of habbitats and species. Vegetation types range from forests to woodlands, savannas, shrublands, and grasslands; landscapes are common, where differing vegetation types are interleaved with one another in complicated patterns created by modifications in soil, exposure to wind and sun, and fire history. Much of the woody vegetation in Mediterranean-climate regions is sclerophyll, which means 'hard-leaved' in Greek. Sclerophyll vegetation generally has small, dark leaves covered with a waxy outer skin to retain moisture in the dry summer months. All these ecoregions are extremely distinctive, harboring 10% of the Earth's plant species. This is equivalent to about 40% of...
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...Try Quantifying and scaling global plant trait diversity TRY is a network of vegetation scientists headed by DIVERSITAS, IGBP, iDiv, the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry and an international Advisory Board. |Main objectives | |Provide a global archive of plant traits | |Promote trait-based approaches in ecology and biodiversity science | |Support the design of a new generation of global vegetation models | |Current state of database and network | |3 million trait records for about 69000 plant species | |344 participants from 173 scientific institutes worldwide | |125 scientific projects requesting plant trait data from TRY | Quantifying and scaling global plant trait diversity TRY is a network of vegetation scientists headed by DIVERSITAS, IGBP, iDiv, the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry and an international Advisory Board. |Main objectives | |Provide a global archive of plant traits ...
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...(a)The species have been carried by marine trade on the hulls of ships and in bilge and ballast water and the movements tend to be between developed areas, reflecting trade patterns. Some areas are not involved; these tend to have less trade. There may be some specific knowledge of individual species from Figure 3 which should be credited, as should other species not shown on Figure 3 (rats). The major disruption is to food chains, as the alien species out-compete existing species reducing their numbers or even causing extinction. This can be directly through predation, or indirectly by occupying ecological niches. There is also the possibility that disease might be spread by new species, and in some cases damage to the physical make up of ecosystems (erosion). Biodiversity can be severely reduced, and in the worst cases ecosystems collapse. Level 2 5-7 Structure is satisfactory. Does explain the pattern with some clarity. Some understanding of impact on ecosystems and uses some geographical terminology, but incomplete; makes reference to map. Explanations are clear, but there are areas of less clarity. Lacks full range. There are some grammar, punctuation and spelling errors. (b) Indicative content The question requires both scales of threat to be covered, which could be accomplished using the same or different examples from within the named global ecosystem. In terms of global threats, the likely focus will be on climate change as an overarching threat to forests...
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...The chaparral biome is a temperate shrub land biome found in all five parts of the world with a Mediterranean, dry, coastal climate. The chaparral is primarily found in California and the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. The chaparral is also found around the world in Chile, South Africa, and Western and Southern Australia. The chaparral’s climate is defined by mild, wet winters and hot dry summers. Plants of the Chaparral Plants of the chaparral must survive long periods of heat, fire, and drought. Many plants of the chaparral very closely resemble plants of the desert that can also survive long periods without rain. The South African Chaparral contains many species of plants that are not located anywhere else in the world. Examples...
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...The tundra artic plains completely covering most of the earth’s lands north of the coniferous forest belt. The tundra’s ecosystem is very sensitive. It doesn’t have a good ability to restore itself. Controlled by sedge, heath, willow, moss, and lichen. Plains that are pretty much alike, called alpine tundra, occur above the timberline in the high mountains of the world. Even the Antarctic area has a couple of its own arctic regions itself. The climate of the tundra is characterized by harsh winters. The average temperature in the tundra area is about –27 degrees. But what is even worse are the long night. At nights the lowest temperture recorded was –67.36 degrees. There are even times in the year when the sun doesn’t come up for days. In the tundra we have little snow and even less rainfall. The rainfall is about a quarter inch in a yearly rainfall. Even though the tundra’s winters are long a harsh there summers are the shortest season of all. Do to the terrible weather and climate in the tundra their animals and plant life is very limited. This artic tundra is mainly formed by permafrost, “a layer of permanently frozen subsoil in the ground. Putting frozen ground and flat landscape stops the drainage of water. As the water is being held up on the surface it makes ponds and bogs that give moisture for the plants, or countering the low precipitation. “The periodic freezing and thawing of the soil forms cracks in the ground in regularly patterned polygons”. Some areas...
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...The tundra is a place where no trees grow and it is a barren landscape. Even though it is barren, plants and animals still grow there, because of adaptations to the cold over millions of years. the animals that live here are usually caribou snow hares snow foxes and polar bears all the animals with fur to resist the cold. The tundra is a cold, barren, place where no trees grow. It is home to some plants the most common are the bearberry, the arctic moss, the Caribou moss, the Diamond leaf willow, the Labrador Tea, the Pasque Flower, and the Tufted Saxifrage. Most of these plants have berries that are food to the animals. Since the soil is frozen over ice cannot seep through and there are not many lakes streams or other waterways. Most of these plants stay low to the ground so that they will not freeze over by the high winds. The plants also have hairy stems and grow together to survive the freezing cold temperatures. Just like other plants they get there energy from the sun, but they have adapted to less light and freezing temperatures...
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...INTRODUCCIÒN: El tema que voy a presentar el ensayo es sobre los ecosistemas y su importancia en el planeta tierra. Elegí este tema ya que me pareció interesante, ya que vivimos en ecosistemas y muchas veces no vemos el daño que le hacemos y seria interesante reconocer su gran importancia en nosotros, los seres vivos. DESARROLLO: Primeramente empezare con la definición, ecosistema es un sistema natural que está formado por un conjunto de organismos vivos y el medio físico en donde se relacionan. Existen diferentes tipos de ecosistemas como son: la sabana, la tundra, la taiga, de mar, desierto, bosque, la selva, entre otros. Y en cada tipo de ecosistema se encuentran miles de animales y diferentes tipos de plantas, una gran diversidad en nuestro medio ambiente. Es por eso la gran importancia de estos ecosistemas. En la actualidad, la contaminación y el calentamiento global se a vuelto una moda, en las calles vemos cada vez mas basura, grandes capas de smog en nuestra atmósfera, y así como el desperdicio de agua, gracias a estos descuidos del hombre se han presentado muchas muertes de animales en nuestros bosques y nuestros mares, el agua nos esta acabando, pero la gran incógnita de todos, ¿Cómo le vamos a hacer?. Sinceramente, nosotros empezamos a actuar ya cuando tocamos fondo, ya cuando vemos que no hay salido empezamos a cambiar, entonces en mi opinión es eso que nos hace falta, que de verdad pase una catástrofe en nuestros ecosistemas, para que nos demos cuenta...
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...be classified as either biotic or abiotic. Biotic factors are other living things that may affect a particular organism, for example predators. In contrast, abiotic factors are nonliving things that affect a particular organism, such as a drought or excessive rain. In reviewing the local ecology and environment of the Commonwealth of Virginia, we must first determine the region’s biome. A biome is the classification of a terrestrial community, primarily determined by climatic factors, such as precipitation patterns and temperature ranges (Enger, Ross, & Tillery, 2009). A biome also provides an indication of the type of plant life and animals that may be present within a particular region. The relationship is interdependent between a biome and the ecological communities contained within it. An ecological community is “an assemblage of co-existing, interacting species, considered together with the physical environment and associated ecological processes, that usually recurs on the landscape” (The Virginia Department of Conservation & Recreation, 2012). When reviewing the biomes of the world, we see...
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