Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Biomes, Coral reef, Tropical Forest, Desert, Savanna, Chaparral, Temperate…
-
Coral reef
- They are sensitive to temperatures below about 18–20°C and above 30°C.
- Corals require high oxygen levels and are excluded by high inputs of fresh water and nutrients.
- a diverse group of cnidarians, the predominant animals on coral reefs. However, fish and invertebrate diversity is exceptionally high.
Human Impact
- Collecting of coral skeletons and overfishing.
- Global warming and pollution may be contributing to large-scale coral death.
Reef Evolution
Fringing reef
- a reef that form around the land mass, on a young, high island.
Barrier reef
- a coral reef parallel to the shore but is separated by a channel of water.
Coral atoll
- as the older island submerges. A ring-shaped coral reef, consisting of a coral rim that encircles a lagoon.
Tropical Forest
Precipitation
- In tropical rain forests, the rainfall is relatively constant, about 200-400 cm annually.
- In tropical forests, precipitation is highly seasonal, about 150-200 cm annually.
Temperature
- High year-round, averaging 25-29'C with little seasonal variation.
Plants
- Broadleaf evergreen trees are dominant.
- Epiphytes generally cover tropical forest trees.
- Thorny shrubs and succulent plants.
Animals
- Home of millions of species, including an estimated 5-30 million still undescribed species of insects, and other arthropods.
Human Impacts
- Many trees are now being cut down and converted to farmland, urban areas, and other types of land use.
Desert
Precipitation
- Is low and highly variable, generally less than 30 cm per year.
Temperature
- In hot deserts air temperature may exceed 50'C
- In cold desert air temperature may fall below -30'C
Plants
- Majorly bare ground.
- Deeply rooted shrubs, and herbs that grow during the infrequent moist periods.
Animals
- Many species are nocturnal
- Water conservation is common adaptation.
Human Impacts
- Urbanisation and conversion to irrigated agriculture.
- A settlement of substantial populations.
Savanna
Precipitation
- Seasonal rainfall averages 30-50 cm per year.
- In dry season can last up to eight or nine months.
Temperature
- warm year-round, averaging 24–29°C, but with somewhat more seasonal variation than in tropical forests.
Plants
- fire-adapted and tolerant of seasonal drought.
- Grasses and small non-woody plants.
Animals
- Large plant-eating mammals as well as predators
- grazing mammals can be seen during seasonal droughts
Human Impacts
- Overly frequent fires
- Cattle ranching
- Overhunting
Chaparral
Precipitation
- highly seasonal, with rainy winters and dry summers.
Temperature
- Fall, winter, and spring are cool, with average temperatures 10–12°C.
- Average summer temperature can reach 30°C
Plants
- Dominated by shrub and small trees
- Some of the shrubs produce seeds that will germinate only after a hot fire.
Animals
- Native mammals include browsers, such as deer and goats, that feed on twigs and buds of woody vegetation.
Human Impacts
- heavily settled and reduced through conversion to agriculture and urbanisation.
Temperate Grassland
Precipitation
- highly seasonal, with relatively dry winters and wet summers. Periodic drought is common.
Temperature
- Winter is generally cold with average temperatures below -10°C.
- Average summer temperature can reach 30°C
Plants
- The dominant plants are grasses and forbs
- Grazing by large mammals helps prevent establishment of woody shrubs and trees
Animals
- Native mammals include large grazers
Human Impacts
- has been converted to farmland due to deep, fertile soils.
-
-
Tundra
Precipitation
- averages from 20 to 60 cm annually in arctic tundra but may exceed 100 cm in alpine tundra.
Temperature
- averages in some areas below –30°C.
- Summer temperatures generally average less than 10°C.
Plants
- Mostly herbaceous, consisting of a mixture of mosses, grasses, and forbs, along with some dwarf shrubs and trees and lichens.
Animals
- Large grazing musk oxen are resident, while caribou and reindeer are migratory.
Human Impacts
- sparsely settled but has become the focus of significant mineral and oil extraction in recent years.
-
Wetlands
- is inundated by water at least some of the time and that supports plants adapted to water-saturated soil
- Wetlands are among the most productive biomes on Earth
Basin wetlands
- develop in shallow basins.
Fringe wetlands
- occur along the coasts of large lakes and seas, where water flows back and forth.
Riverine wetlands
- develop along shallow and periodically flooded banks of rivers and streams.
Human Impact
- Wetlands help purify water and reduce peak flooding. Draining and filling have destroyed up to 90% of wetlands in Europe.
Streams and Rivers
- the water is generally warmer and more turbid because of suspended sediment.
- The downstream stretches of rivers are generally wide and meandering.
- River bottoms are often silty from sediments deposited over long periods of time.
The salt and nutrient content of streams and rivers increases from the headwaters to the mouth. Headwaters are generally rich in oxygen.
Downstream water may also contain substantial oxygen, except where there has been organic enrichment.
Human Impact
- Municipal, agricultural, and industrial pollution degrade water quality and kill aquatic organisms.
Estuaries
- a transition area between river and sea.
- an abundance of worms, oysters, crabs, and many fish species that humans consume.
- crucial feeding areas for waterfowl and some marine mammals.
-
This create a complex network of tidal channels, islands, natural levees, and mudflats.
Human Impact
- Filling, dredging, and pollution from upstream have disrupted estuaries worldwide.
Intertidal Zone
- periodically submerged and exposed by the tides, twice daily on most marine shores.
- generally either rocky or sandy
- Upper zones experience longer exposures to air and greater variations in temperature and salinity
- A high diversity and biomass of attached marine algae inhabit rocky intertidal zones
- Many of the animals in sandy or muddy intertidal zones, such as worms, clams, and predatory crustaceans.
Human Impact
- Oil pollution has disrupted many intertidal areas. The construction of rock walls and barriers to reduce erosion from waves and storm surges
Oceanic pelagic zone
- a vast realm of open blue water, constantly mixed by wind driven oceanic currents.
- This biome covers approximately 70% of Earth’s surface and has an average depth of nearly 4,000 m.
- Oxygen levels are generally high. Nutrient concentrations are generally lower than in coastal waters
The dominant photosynthetic organisms are phytoplankton, including photosynthetic bacteria
These protists, worms, copepods, shrimp- like krill, jellies, and small larvae of invertebrates and fishes graze on photosynthetic plankton.
Human Impact
- Overfishing has depleted fish stocks in all Earth’s oceans; marine life has also been harmed by pollution.
Marine Benthic Zone
- consists of the seafloor below the surface waters of the coastal, or neritic.
- receives NO sunlight.
- Soft sediments cover most of the benthic zone. However, there are areas of rocky substrate on reefs, submarine mountains, and new oceanic crust.
-
Many other invertebrates, including arthropods and echinoderms, are also abundant around the vents.
Human Impact
- Overfishing has decimated important benthic fish populations,
- such as the cod of the Grand Banks off Newfound land. Dumping of organic wastes