Warm-up Identify one alternative (renewable) energy source associated with each of the following: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the biosphere, and the lithosphere. Quiz tomorrow, chapter 25 and energy concept map

Earth Resources: Biosphere

What is the Biosphere? Region of earth that encompasses all living organisms: plants, animals and bacteria Includes lithosphere, troposphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere http://www.eoearth.org/article/AP_Environmental_Science_Chapter_5-_The_Biosphere Thickness of the skin on an apple

Biomes Living communities with similar climate, vegetation, geographic location and other characteristics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biome http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/biome_main.htm

Abiotic Factors Abiotic Factors: Non-living parts of the environment Climate: sunlight, temperature, wind, and precipitation Topography: latitude, altitude, slope Atmosphere: oxygen, air pollution Soil: texture, pH, water, salinity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiotic, http://philanthropy2012.hubpages.com/hub/List-of-Abiotic-Factors

Biotic Biotic: All of the living or once living parts of the environment Plants Animals Fungi Bacteria http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiotic

Biome Classification Biomes are classified using climate data (temperature and rainfall) Climate determines what organisms live where http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/biome_main.htm

Freshwater Biomes Ponds, lakes, streams, or rivers

Tundra - treeless land with frozen ground called permafrost Tundra - treeless land with frozen ground called permafrost. Tundra Soil – very low in nutrients

Tundra

Boreal Forest (Taiga) Type of “Northern Coniferous Forest” biome Long, cold winters Short, cool summers Drought tolerant, evergreen trees Taiga Soil - very poor, low in nutrients http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Experiments/Biome/bioconiferous.php, http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/terrestrial-biomes-13236757

Taiga (Boreal Forest)

Temperate Deciduous Forest (NC’s biome) Cool winters, warm summers, high year-round precipitation Trees that drop leaves during winter Soil - Fertile soil good for agriculture

Temperate Deciduous Forest

Tropical Rain Forest warm temperatures, wet weather, many plants and animals Nutrient poor soils Leaf litter decomposes too rapidly to accumulate http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/terrestrial-biomes-13236757

Tropical Rain Forest

Grasslands Interior of continents Low yearly, mostly summer rain Soils range from poor to fertile, too dry to support tree growth

Grasslands

Desert Dry region with little rainfall Cover ~30% land Soil – rich in minerals but poor in organic materials

Desert

Ecology Study of relationships between living organisms and their environment

Ecosystem community of living organisms (biotic) interacting with each other and their non-living (abiotic) environment (soil, water, air, sunlight, etc) The bullfrogs’ ecosystem is a pond. http://www.eoearth.org/article/Ecosystem

Ecological Succession Succession refers to the orderly, natural changes and species replacements that take place in the communities of an ecosystem over time Basically…succession refers to changes to an ecosystem over time Over time, succession returns to the natural state of the biome

Biodiversity variations of life forms within an ecosystem varies greatly from high (rainforests) to low (polar) mass extinctions are when large and sudden drops in biodiversity occur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity Coral reefs contain great biodiversity

Diversity is Good! Two forms different species – wheat vs corn. genetic variation within a species – short vs long grain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity

Diversity is Good! Irish potato blight of 1846 Farmers planted only two varieties of potato Microorganism destroyed both varieties 1 million people starved, 2 million emigrated http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity