Ecosystems

Jeremy RobertsSD standard 9-12.L.3.1

Ecosystems

Taiga

Man- made

Grassland

TundraDesert

Rainforest

Ocean

a community of living and non-living things

that work together.  can be as large as a desert or a lake or as

small as a tree or a puddle.  includes soil, atmosphere, heat and light from

the sun, water and living organisms.  All the parts work together to make a

balanced system Without water there would be no life.

What are the Ecosystems?

THE MAJOR ECOSYSTEMS

OF THE WORLD ARE:

Taiga

Biome characterized by coniferous forests.Taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome and covers: in North America most of inland Canada and Alaska

Rainforest Forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 68-78 inches. Rainforests are also responsible for 28% of the world's oxygen

LAKE A body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Many lakes are artificial and are constructed for industrial or agricultural use.

Grassland

Vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants and are found in most ecological regions of the Earth.

Receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than 16 in.

Tundra

Tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons, there are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine tundra, and Antarctic tundra.

OceanA major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean

Farm

Area of land devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food (produce, grains, or livestock)

City A relatively large and permanent settlement, generally have complex

systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, and transportation.

*How do Ecosystems

function?

Experiment with players in the ecosystems: *Producers*Consumers*Decomposers

PRODUCE

RS In any given ecosystem, most organisms will carve out a niche for themselves where they can obtain all of the necessities to survive. Often, different species within the ecosystem will compete for the resources that a niche provides and the first colonizers of the successive ecosystem are, of course, producers.

 As these pioneer plants die and decay, they add organic material to the soil, which, over time, will allow for secondary succession—generally larger and more delicate producers such as trees.

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ConsumersHerbivores, Carnivores, and Omnivores

• Herbivores—animals that feed solely on plants—make up the second trophic level.

• Predators that eat herbivores comprise the third trophic level; if larger predators are present, they represent still higher trophic levels.

• Organisms that feed at several trophic levels (for example, grizzly bears that eat berries and salmon) are classified at the highest of the trophic levels at which they feed.

Decomposers

Process large amounts of organic material and return nutrients to the ecosystem in inorganic form, which are then taken up again by primary producers. Energy is not recycled during decomposition, but rather is released, mostly as heat (this is what makes compost piles and fresh garden mulch warm).

Include bacteria, fungi, molds, worms, and insects, break down wastes and dead organisms and return nutrients to the soil

Ecosystems have an extremely complex web of

cause and effect. Changing one connection or altering the population of any species within an ecosystem can have dire, cascading effects on all

others within that ecosystem.

Both land and ocean ecosystems are important sinks for carbon, which is taken up by plants and algae during photosynthesis and fixed as plant tissue.

• On land primary productivity thus is highest in warm, wet zones in the tropics where tropical forest biomes are located. In contrast, desert scrub ecosystems have the lowest productivity because their climates are extremely hot and dry.

• In the oceans, light and nutrients are important controlling factors for productivity. In the oceans, light penetrates only into the uppermost level of the oceans, so photosynthesis occurs in surface and near-surface waters. Among aquatic ecosystems, algal beds and coral reefs have the highest net primary production, while the lowest rates occur in the open due to a lack of nutrients in the illuminated surface layers

Interaction in the Ecosyste

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