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Sustaining ecosystems I - Coggle Diagram
Sustaining ecosystems I
What is an ecosystem
Ecostystems are natural areas in which plants, animals and other organisms are linked to each other, and to the non-living elements of the environment to form a natural system
Biotic elements - all living parts of the ecosystem, flora and fauna and bacteria
Abioitc factors - Non living parts of the ecoystem, like temperature, water and light
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Important of ecosystems
Combined benefits of natura to people is valued at $100 trillion anuually, the top 50 global companies make $10 trillion annually
Sequestion of carbon - trapping it in plants, ground andd water
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Biomes
Lagre scale ecosystems spread across continents and have types of plants and animals unique to them, similar climate
Biomes cover a large range, and are identified by their climate, soils, plants and animal species
Each of these factors are reliant on eachother, known as interdependence
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During a period of low rainfall, less vegetation will grow, meaning less food for some animals
Tropical biomes
Found wiothin the tropics of cancer and Capricorn, centred around the equator
Examples - Indonesia and Malaysia, anomalies - Morocco
Climate is hot and wet, mean temperature of 26-28 degrees
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Soil is not very fertile, but there is lots of water, leadign to leaching of nutrients
Plant adaptation - Tallest trees are supported by butress roots which emerge over 3 metres about ground level to support it. Trunks are usually thin as they compete for space
Animal adaption - poison dart frog, has brightly coloured skin to warn predators, when it is touched, it can kill almost instantly
Coral reefs
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Examples - Great Barrier reef off the eastern cost of Australia, anomalies, Nille area in Northern Africa, isn't near ocean
Water needs to be warm, mean temperature of 18 degrees, and no deeper than 30m, otherwise there isn't enough sunlight
Coral reefs are made from thousands of coral polyps, they have a mineral skeleton which helps to build the structure of the reef
Animal adaption- Parrot ifsh, fused beak like front teeth so it can scrap of algaue from coral, secretes a mucus cocoon to hide at night
Plant adaption - Zooxanthellae, live in the coral skeleton for protection, can quickly reproduce and colonise territory
Tropical grasslands
Located between the latitudes 5-30 north/south of the equator within central parts of the continents, like Mexico and northern Australia
Climate can range from tropical wet to dry, and the temperatures are high throughout the year of around 25 degrees
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Annual rainfall is 500-1000mm, most of it comes in the 4-5 month rainy season
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Animal adaptation - Condors that eat Carrion, remains fo dead animals, they have excellent eye sight to see the carrion from 100 miles away
Plant adaptation - Baobab trees grow large swollen stems and a trunk with a diameter of 10 metres to store moisture, they only have a few leaves to reduce the loss of water transpiring
Polar
Located between 55-70 north/south, includes Greenland and Russia
Consist of long cold winters, short cool summers
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Temperatures are around negrative 25-60 degrees, the artic is much warmer than the antarctic though
Reveive small amounts of rainfall, only 250 mm on average
Most polar biomes have soil that is permanently frozen, permafrost
Animal adaptaiton - Polar bears have acute sense of smell, to detect seals under 3m of ice, they also have thick layer of blubber under their fur to keep them warm
Plant adaptation - Arctic willow, Shallow wide root network across the permafrost (it defrosts 50-90 days), they grow 15-20cm high
Desert
Between 30-60 N/S, examples are Saharan Africa and Inland Australia, central Asia doesn't due to high altitudes
Very low precipitation, below 250mm due to the high pressure dry air which sinks on the subtropics
Very high temperatures above 40 during the day, and low temperatures at the night
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Animal adaptation - meerkates, occupy complex underground tunnels, adapted to eat scorpions whose venom they are immune to
Plant adaptation - Baseball plant, resembles a stone for camoflague, it conserves water for long periods of time and produces milky poisonous latex when cut
Temperate grasslands
Location - 40-60 degrees N/S, examples are eastern North America and Western Europe
Summer are very hot, can reach into high 20s while winters are very cold and can be as cold as freezing
High rainfall, 500-1500 and mostly during the summer, there are four seasons
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Animal adaptation - Red fox - has long hind lends in order to run at speeds up to 50mph and it can jump at 6.5ft, its fur acts as a camoflague
Plant adaption - Beech trees live for 300-400 years and have wide shallow roots to exploit nutrients from the surface