WHAT CREATES AN ECOSYSTEM?
•Energy and nutrient flows create ecosystems.
• There are four main factors that determine the nature of biomes/ecosystems and their location.• Climate (temperature, precipitation, light intensity, wind)• Landform (altitude, angle of slope, direction of slope)• Soil• Competition between species
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ECOSYSTEM?
• A biome is a large (global) ecosystem. It contains many smaller ecosystems that are influenced by local conditions.• There are a number of different classifications of
biomes. Some say there are eight, others as many as 16. In each, there are many smaller ecosystems.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BIOMES?
• Tropical Rainforest • Tundra• Taiga• Temperate forest• Temperate grassland• Savanna: tropical grassland• Mediterranean• Desert
TROPICAL RAINFOREST
• Almost all rain forests lie near the equator
• The temperature in a rain forest rarely gets higher than 34°C or drops below 20 °C
• More than half of all the world's plant and animal species live in tropical rain forests
• Tropical rainforests produce 40% of Earth's oxygen.
MAP OF TROPICAL RAINFORESTS
TUNDRA:
• Long cold winters• Short cool
summers• Low precipitation• Limited tree growth• Permafrost
TUNDRA
TAIGA
• Taiga: Russian for forest
• Cold winters, short summers.
• In Canada, called boreal forest
• In the southern Taiga regions, predominantly coniferous trees (softwoods, cone bearing)
• 29% of world’s forests
TAIGA
TEMPERATE DECIDUOUS FOREST:
• Deciduous or broad leafed trees (hardwoods)• Cool winters, warm
summers • Moderate
precipitation• Region often
settled and cleared for agriculture
TEMPERATE DECIDUOUS FORESTS
TEMPERATE GRASSLAND
• Warm summer• Cool to cold winter• Fertile soils• Largely grasses• Known as prairies in
North America, steppe in Russia, pampas in Argentina, veld in South Africa
SAVANNA: TROPICAL GRASSLANDS
• Generally warm climate• Not enough rain to
support forest but some trees (not thick)• Found between
rainforest and desert• Often distinct wet
and dry seasons
TEMPARATE AND TROPICAL GRASSLANDS
MEDITERRANEAN
• Hot dry summers• Cool wet winters• Mixture of trees
and shrubs
MEDITERRANEAN
DESERT
• 1/5 of the earth• Hot and dry, cold
and dry (the tundra is actually a type of desert)• Under 200 mm per
year (we get about 1300 mm per year in Nova Scotia)
DESERT