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