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Download standard 8 - characteristics and distribution of Earth`s ecosystems
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Map of World Ecosystems Ecosystem management is crucial to sustain the Earth •The geographically informed person needs to understand the spatial distribution, origins, functioning, and maintenance of different ecosystems and to comprehend how humans have intentionally or inadvertently modified these ecosystems. CHARACTERISTICS AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF EARTH’S ECOSYSTEMS • Populations of different plants and animals that live and interact together are called a community. This Sonoran Desert National Monument is a great example of a desert landscape plant and animal community. It includes a variety of of biological, scientific, and historic resources within a functioning desert ecosystem. Encompassing nearly 500,000 acres, the Monument was established in January 2001 by presidential proclamation. The Monument’s diverse plant communities include plants & animals such as saguaros, creosote bushes, agave, and other succulents, as well as a wide variety of wildlife, like desert bighorn sheep, mountain lions, desert tortoise, and over 200 species of birds. - Photo by Bob Wick, BLM Biosphere = Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Lithosphere • When a community interacts with the other three components of the physical environment— atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere—the result is an ecosystem. All ecosystems are the ‘biosphere’. CHARACTERISTICS AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF EARTH’S ECOSYSTEMS • • • Ecosystems form distinct regions on Earth’s surface, which vary in size, shape, and complexity. They exist at a variety of scales, from small and very localized areas (e.g., a single stand of oak trees or a clump of xerophytic grasses) to larger areas with precise geographic boundaries (e.g., a pond, desert biome, island, or beach). Small-scale garden ‘ecosystem’ California’s diverse ecosystems or bioregions Larger scale ecosystems can form continent-wide belts, such as the tundra, taiga, and steppe of northern Asia. Great Plains ecosystem • The largest ecosystem is the planet itself (the biosphere). Map of Ecosystems, Bioregions, or Biomes in the US Vegetative Zones in Arizona by Elevation Minnesota Ecosytems In Minnesota we see three main ecosystems: prairies, deciduous woods, and northern coniferous forests. This landscape variation is caused by differences in climate and precipitation from north to south. As the ecosystems change, so too does the flora and fauna of the state. All of these ecosystems have been altered dramatically since human settlement began. The prairie landscape has been especially affected. Wolf Lake is located on the northwest edge of Hammond, Indiana and the far southeast edge of Chicago, Illinois. The lake covers more than 450 acres in Indiana and has a maximum depth of 18 feet. The ecosystem degradation problem in Wolf Lake includes proliferation of exotic plant species, low diversity of plant and fish species, lack of adequate water depths, poor aquatic habitat, negative impacts from contaminants, and shoreline erosion. Proposed project features include creating approximately 25 acres of new aquatic and wetland habitat plantings: restoring approximately 5,000 feet of shoreline; creating deep holes to locally diversify the lake bottom; controlling aquatic and shoreline exotic and undesirable plant species using herbicidal and biological controls; clearing channels, and creating openings in dikes and causeways to restore natural water levels in the project area. Aquatic Ecosytems • All elements of the environment, physical and human, are part of several different but nested ecosystems. http://askabiologist.asu.edu/explore/i-spy-ecosystem They are dynamic and everchanging Changes in one ecosystem ripple through others with varying degrees of impact The web of ecological interdependency is fragile • As self-regulating open systems that maintain flows of energy and matter, they naturally move toward maturity, stability, and balance in the absence of major disturbances. • In ecological terms, the physical environment can be seen as an interdependent web of production and consumption cycles. Cycles that Power Ecosystems Water Cycle Energy Cycle Carbon Cycle Change & Vulnerability of Ecosystems • The stability and balance of ecosystems is altered by large-scale natural events such as El Niño, volcanic eruptions, fire, or drought. Change & Vulnerability of Ecosystems Ecosystems are equally or more drastically transformed by human activities BALANCE is a key concept in understanding how human intervention can work to restore the ‘overproduction’ and ‘overuse’ disruptions we have caused in the global ecosystem Mangroves The benefits of mangroves on the tropical ecosystem are great: Prevent Erosion Provide Habitat Provide Shade Mangroves are in danger of being lost due to unsustainable coastal-use practices (over-use and pollutants) Florida Everglades ANWR (Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge) Gulf Coast The BP OIL SPILL in the Gulf of Mexico Go to the NYT interactive article about the BP Oil Spill (website below). The image that you see on this slide has a dot in the place the oil spill originated. At the website, you can click an arrow, and watch as the oil spills throughout the Gulf, increasingly growing larger and larger. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/01/us/20100501-oil-spill-tracker.html?ref=us Sonoran Desert The invasion of non-native species threatens the Sonoran Desert Ecosystem. Invasive species upset the natural balance of the unique Sonoran Desert, as they disrupt other natural environments Note: Some non-native species are not a threat to native species The Land of Little Rain, first edition cover, 1903 The Desert Smells Like Rain By Elizabeth Larson, PhD Lecturer, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, 2010.