Understanding Communities, Biomes, and Ecosystems

1. Communities, Biomes, and Ecosystems Ch3 (click here for the textbook)

2. Community • groups of interacting populations that occupy the same area at the same time Limiting Factors? Range of Tolerance

3. - Predictable changes in ecological communities overtime. Ecological Succession

4. Primary Succession

5. What are some examples of disturbance?

7. - Predictable changes in ecological communities overtime. Ecological Succession Click for Explanation

8. State & Transition Models New-ish…more detail…more fidelity Threshold

10. Types of Ecosystems (2) • TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS • LAND MASSES • AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS • MARINE= OCEAN/SEAS – SALTY • FRESH WATER = LAKES, RIVERS • LENTIC • LOTIC

11. Biomes very large ecosystems that contain a number of smaller but related ecosystems within them. MARINE BIOMES = OCEAN/SEAS – SALTY FRESH WATER BIOMES = LAKES, RIVERS, ETC. TERRESTRIAL BIOMES Tundra Tropical Rain Forrest Savannas Deserts Grasslands Deciduous Forrest Coniferous Forrest / Boreal Forrest / Taiga

12. Marine Biomes...BIG! • Marine regions cover about three-fourths of the Earth’s surface and include oceans, coral reefs, and estuaries. • Marine algae supply much of the world’s oxygen supply and take in a huge amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide. • The evaporation of the seawater provides rainwater for the land.

13. Freshwater Biomes

14. Freshwater wetlands –Aquatic or Terrestrial? *We are simplifying the extreme variety that exists. There are in-betweens and exceptions but learn the overall patterns…

15. Terrestrial biomes are described the by their average rainfall, temperature, and major plants and animals.

18. Terrestrial Biomes/Land biomes

19. Tundra • Arctic Tundra is found across northern Alaska, Canada, and Siberia. • This biome has long cold winters and short cool summers. • The Arctic tundra has low precipitation (less than 10 inches per year) and dry winds. • These conditions make the Arctic tundra a desert-like climate

20. Tundra is dark green

21. Arctic Tundra: Plants • mosses, lichens, low-growing shrubs, and grasses--but no trees. • "tundra" is a Finnish word which means "treeless". • Permafrostprevents plants from sending their roots down past the active layer of soil. So they have shallow root systems • The active layer of soil is free from ice for only 50 to 90 days. • Arctic plants have a very short growing season. • However, in spite of the severe conditions and the short growing season, there are approximately 1,700 kinds of plants that live in the Arctic tundra.

22. Arctic Tundra: Animals • Not many kinds of animals live year-round in the Arctic tundra. • Most birds and mammals only use the tundra as a summer home.

23. Deciduous Forest • Mid-latitude deciduous forests have both a warm and a cold season. • Precipitation ranges from 30 to 60 inches • Much of the human population lives in this biome. • Although evergreens are found in this biome, this biome is characterized by an abundance of deciduous trees.

24. Deciduous Forest

25. Deciduous Forest: Flora • Deciduous" means to fall off, or shed, seasonally.

26. Deciduous Forest: Animals • A wide variety of mammals, birds, insects, and reptiles can be found in a deciduous forest biome.

27. Desert or Desertscrub • Depending on its geographical location, the annual precipitation in a desert varies from half an inch to as much as 15 inches. Desert covers about one fifth of the Earth’s surface

28. Desert: Climates of the Earth • Deserts can be either hot such as the Australian Desert or cold such as the Gobi Desert

29. Deserts of North America        Mohave Desert        Sonoran Desert Chihuahuan Desert        Great Basin Desert

30. Desert: Animals • deserts are home to many reptiles, insects, birds, and small mammals

31. Desert: Plants • Short grasses, sagebrush, creosote bushes, and cacti

32. Desert

33. Desert

34. Camel Spiders in the Desert of Iraq

35. Rain Forest • The tropical rainforest is a hot, moist biome found near Earth's equator. • Tropical rainforests receive from 60 to 160 inches of precipitation annually • Tropical rainforests contain the greatest biodiversity in the world. • 15 million species of plants and animals live within this biome.

36. Tropical Rainforest: Plants • Although tropical rainforests receive 12 hours of sunlight daily, less than 2% of that sunlight ever reaches the ground. • The tropical rainforest has dense vegetation, often forming three different layers--the canopy, the understory, and the ground layer.

37. Animals of the Tropical Rain ForestTemperate Rainforest? • Small animals, including monkeys, birds, snakes, rodents, frogs, and lizards are common in the tropical rainforest. • Many of these animals and a multitude of insects never set foot on the ground. The animals use the tall trees and understory for shelter, hiding places from their predators, and a source of food

38. Breaktime • Big cat and Silly cats

39. Big Cat! … big fish stories?

41. ConiferousForest or Taiga • AKA  boreal forest • The taiga biome is found in the northern hemisphere close to the polar region. • This cold biome stretches across the northern portions of North America, Europe, and Asia.

42. The taiga, which is also known as the boreal (meaning northern) forest region, occupies about 17 percent of Earth's land surface area in a circumpolar belt of the far Northern Hemisphere.

43. Taiga: Plants • conifer-trees that have cones. • Three of the common conifers are evergreens; spruce, fir, and pine. • broadleaf trees- birch and aspen

44. Taiga or boreal forest is home to thriving mosses

45. Coniferous or Taiga Larch/Tamarack • The fourth common conifer is the tamarack, or larch, a deciduous tree.

46. Typical glacial lake of the taiga Spruce-bog of the taiga.

47. Taiga: Animals • moose, deer, and bears, bobcats, squirrels, chipmunks, ermine, and moles.

49. Savannah

50. Savannah