Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Living world (Biomes (Abiotic factors (Climate, Relief, Geology, Soils,…
Living world
Biomes
The world is divided into ecosystems, these ecosystems on a large scale are called biomes.
-
Tropical rainforests
Are found near the equator in Central and South America, parts of Africa and Asia.
They are hot and humid and contain a huge variety of plants and animals - around half of all the world's species.
-
-
-
Tundra
Surrounds the North and South poles. They have an extremely cold climate, with limited numbers of plants and animals able to survive there.
Tropical Rainforests
The tropical rainforest is a biome with a constant temperature and a high rainfall. The level of humidity and density of the vegetation give the ecosystem a unique water and nutrient cycle. Rainforests around the world are threatened by human expansion.
Rainforest water cycle
The roots of plants take up water from the ground and the rain is intercepted as it falls - much of it at the canopy level. As the rainforest heats up, the water evaporates into the atmosphere and forms clouds to make the next day's rain. This is convectional rainfall.
Rainforest nutrient cycle
The rainforest nutrient cycling is rapid. The hot, damp conditions on the forest floor allow for the rapid decomposition of dead plant material. This provides plentiful nutrients that are easily absorbed by plant roots. However, as these nutrients are in high demand from the rainforest's many fast-growing plants, they do not remain in the soil for long and stay close to the surface of the soil. If vegetation is removed, the soils quickly become infertile and vulnerable to erosion.
If the rainforest is cleared for agriculture it will not make very good farmland, as the soil will not be rich in nutrients.
-
Plants adapted
Lianas are woody vines that start at ground level, and use trees to climb up to the canopy where they spread from tree to tree to get as much light as possible.
Rainforests have a shallow layer of fertile soil, so trees only need shallow roots to reach the nutrients. However, shallow roots can't support huge rainforest trees, so many tropical trees have developed huge buttress roots. These stretch from the ground to two metres or more up the trunk and help to anchor the tree to the ground
Human uses (Amazon)
land for agriculture, houses and roads
jobs for local workers in road building, logging, agriculture, mining and construction
the generation of income (often in valuable foreign currency) for the LEDC when wood, minerals, and other resources are sold
Deserts
Deserts are hot during the day and cold at night. Animals and plants that live in deserts have adapted to survive in these harsh conditions.
Vegetation adaptations
Some plants are succulents and store the water in leaves, stems or roots. One example is the cactus.
-
Deciduous woodland
Deciduous woodlands contain trees with broad leaves such as oak, beech and elm. They occur in places with high rainfall, warm summers and cooler winters and lose their leaves in winter.
Epping forest is the case study where pollarding and replanting take place into order to sustain the management of the forest.
Tundra
Tundra biomes are cold and treeless with very little precipitation. The landscape is quite bare with vegetation specially adapted to the low temperatures.