Download Ecosystems

ECOSYSTEMS
Chapter 2 Section 2
What is an ecosystem?
• The interaction of plants and animals and the
physical environment where they live.
• Many factors affect an ecosystem.
• Climate
• Sunlight
• Temperature
• Precipitation
• Elevation
• Soil
• Landforms.
How does change in one aspect
lead to change in another aspect?
• Ecosystems can be delicately balanced, so if there is a
change, it can affect the animals and other plants in that
ecosystem
• Cutting down trees could endanger squirrels and other
animals that rely on acorns for food.
• Catching too many of one kind of fish could lead to a decline
in population for another kind of fish due to lack of food.
• Humans have affected ecosystems
• Grassland is now farmland
• Decline in buffalo population
• Some species thrive because of human involvement
• In suburban U.S. deer eat grass and bushes
• Raccoons go through trash cans.
What is a Biome?
• A type of ecosystem that is found in
various regions throughout the world.
• For example, a deciduous forest is a
biome.
Emergent Layer
Canopy
• Same type of ecosystem, but is found all
around the world.
• Rainforests contain all kind of life, but only
occur in small areas around the world.
• Known as broadleaf evergreens
Understory
Forest Floor
Deciduous Forest
• Made up of trees that grow or lose leaves depending on the season.
• Exist in mid-latitude forests.
• Most of North America and Europe and parts of China have deciduous trees.
• Grow in areas with plenty of rain, warm summers and cold or cool winters.
• Continental climates.
Coniferous Forest
• Exists in colder parts of the midlatitudes
• Can survive long, cold winters
• Have “needles” rather than broad flat
leaves.
• Reduces the amount of surface
exposed to the cold so it helps them
survive the winter better.
• Called coniferous after the “cones”
that protect their seeds.
Chaparral
• Includes small evergreens and low bushes
or “Scrub”.
• Spanish word for “an area of underbrush
and small trees”
• Grow mostly in areas with a wet winter
and hot, dry summers.
• Leathery leaves to help hold in the moisture
• Found in the Mediterranean, southern
California, Chile, South Africa and
Australia.
Types of Grasslands
• There are two types of grasslands
• Tropical Grasslands
• Also known as Savannas- Found in Africa
• Grow tall and green during the rainy season
• Die and turn brown during the dry season
• Wildfires help the grasslands to grow by adding nutrients
and releasing seeds.
• Populated by plant eating animals – Herbivores
• And meat eating animals – Carnivores
Types of Grasslands
• Temperate Grasslands
• Exist in cooler parts of the world and are also
known in North America as prairies.
• Grow taller in areas with more rain.
• Most of the American prairies were plowed under
for farmland to grow wheat.
• In Northeastern Eurasia and Central Asia, these
grasslands are called steppes which means
“treeless plain”
Characteristics of Desert plants.
Think about:
Size
Protection
Reproduction
Characteristics of Desert animals
Think about:
Color
Adaptations
Size
What they eat
Tundra
• Always cold and have a layer of frozen soil just below the surface called “Permafrost”
• Few plants can grow here
• Usually small plants (no trees)
• Brightly colored plants called lichens grow on rocks.
• Plants have to adapt to cold temperature and little sunlight
• Can have many brightly colored plants, mosses and lichens
• Some plants have developed large leaves to absorb as much sun as possible.
• Any animals that live her have thick fur and eat constantly to build up fat reserves for
when food is scarce.
Tundra