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BIOMES: Secondary 4
Chapter 8 Observatory
Can you identify these major biomes?
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BIOMES: They are divided into 3 major groups:
1. Terrestrial (land) biomes
2. Freshwater biomes
3. Marine biomes
Biomes are defined by factors such as plant structures (such as trees, shrubs, and grasses), leaf types (such as broadleaf and needleleaf), plant spacing (forest, woodland, savanna), and climate. Unlike ecozones, biomes are not defined by genetic, taxonomic, or historical similarities. Biomes are often identified with particular patterns of ecological succession and climax vegetation (quasi-equilibrium state of the local ecosystem). An ecosystem has many biotopes and a biome is a major habitat type. A major habitat type, however, is a compromise, as it has an intrinsic inhomogeneity.
The biodiversity characteristic of each biome, especially the diversity of fauna and subdominant plant forms, is a function of abiotic factors and the biomass productivity of the dominant vegetation. In terrestrial biomes, species diversity tends to correlate positively with net primary productivity, moisture availability, and temperature.[2]
Ecoregions are grouped into both biomes and ecozones.
A fundamental classification of biomes is into:
1. Terrestrial (land) biomes
2. Freshwater biomes
3. Marine biomes
Definition: Biomes are large regions of the world with distinctive climates, wildlife and vegetation
Think of a climate and a typical plant found in that climate and you probably have a type of biome.
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Biomes: Both abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) factors are included in an organism's environment. Organisms are effected by their environment, but also organisms can effect their environment.
Animals and plants are adapted for their biome. Change the abiotic factors and usually the results are not very good.
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4. Abiotic factors determining terrestrial biomes
Altitude
Contaminants
Latitude
Longitude
Precipitation
Soil type
Solar energy
Temperature
Water
Winds
Understanding that these factors will influence terrestrial biomes is really easy.
Just think that you are asked to put together a terrarium to grow certain types of plants.
You know that if you give too much water to a cactus that the plant will die. That is really easy to comprehend.
However understanding how all these abiotic factors interact with living organisms is enormously complex.
When you speak of precipitation this is not enough to understand what plants will grow. You also need to know what is in the rain. Is the rain acidic? Then that may kill off certain organisms such as lichens, salamanders and frogs. There can be a lot of rain but if there is little top soil then the plants will not grow very much.
The climate of a region will often indicate the type of biome but it is not enough. You can be in a tropical region but if you are on a very high mountain in that region, the biome will be different from the lowlands.
You can be in the middle of a desert and there will be vegetation because of an oasis.
It is important to remember that you cannot only examine one factor to identify a biome. The better way to identify a biome is by the type of plants that are found there.
The picture above gives you an indication of plant size depending on average rain fall and average temperatures. This is a general rule of thumb.
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5. Terrestrial Biomes:
Climatograms done by different classes around the world.
This is climatogram is of the Temperate Forests
Temperate forest:
Temperate forests are often called deciduous forests. In a temperate forest, most of the trees lose their leaves in the winter. During the fall, when the weather gets cooler, the trees begin to shut down. Their leaves turn beautiful shades of colors. Come winter time, the leaves fall off of the trees. Why do you think this is so?
The deciduous trees must lose their leaves, because water is not available for the leaves to survive. Also, the trees are not strong enough to keep their leaves and hold up all the snow that comes in the winter.
In a temperate forest, there are four definate seasons. In some biomes, like the tundra, it is usually cold, but not in the temperate forest. Spring time brings new life to the trees and plants, warm temperatures, and rain which helps everything grow. Summer is hot, and everything is green for all the trees now have leaves. Fall is cool. The trees are beginning to change colors such as red, yellow, and bright orange. Winter months are extremely cold. All the trees loose their leaves.
To view the entire project:
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Terrestrial Biomes: The Temperate Forests
The bright green colour identifies the temperate forest.
The temperate deciduous forests are located primarily in the eastern half of the United States, Canada, Europe, parts of Russia, China, and Japan.
Well-defined seasons with a distinct winter characterize this forest biome. Moderate climate and a growing season of days during 4-6 frost-free months distinguish temperate forests.
* Temperature varies from -30° C to 30° C.
* Precipitation ( cm) is distributed evenly throughout the year.
* Soil is fertile, enriched with decaying litter.
* Canopy is moderately dense and allows light to penetrate, resulting in well-developed and richly diversified understory vegetation and stratification of animals.
* Flora is characterized by 3-4 tree species per square kilometer. Trees are distinguished by broad leaves that are lost annually and include such species as oak, hickory, beech, hemlock, maple, basswood, cottonwood, elm, willow, and spring-flowering herbs.
* Fauna in Canada is represented by squirrels, rabbits, skunks, birds, deer, mountain lion, bobcat, timber wolf, fox, and black bear.
What colour do you think represents the temperate forest around the world?
Can you name some the locations of the temperate forest on the map?
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Terrestrial Biomes: The Temperate Forests food chain
At this point, it is not clear if students have seen forest succession. It is not covered in secondary 3.
If they have then a review is in order about plant succession.
If not, it should be introduced. Notes from chapter 9 and chapter 10 are introduced here.
1) Do you think that the system in the above diagram is a closed or an open system?
2) Where does the energy in the system in the above diagram come from?
3) In what direction does the energy in the system in the above diagram flow to?
4) Where does the matter in the in the system in the above diagram flow to?
5) Where does the matter in the system in the above diagram come from?
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8. Terrestrial Biomes: The Temperate Forests food chain
Energy and Matter Cycles
Key Terms:
Producers
Consumers
Decomposers
Phostosynthesis
Cellular Respiration
In level 2 you studied a little about photosynthesis
Photo = light
Synthesis = production
It is the production of sugar using light as an energy source. It is done by green plants.
The green pigment is chlorophyll.
In secondary three, you saw that the chemical reaction for photosynthesis is carbon dioxide + water + sunlight gives oxygen and sugar . Some of you even saw how to balance that chemical equation.
In secondary three, you also saw cellular respiration. That is how cells take sugar and oxygen and break it down into carbon dioxide and water. That reaction releases energy. Some of you also how to balance that chemical equation. That reaction we saw takes place in the mitochondria part of the cell.
Thinking about the temperate forest, can you give an example of a producer, of a first level (primary) consumer, of a second level (secondary) consumer and of a decomposer and how they are all related? (Give both the energy flow and the material flow such as nitrogen in amino acids found in proteins.)
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9. Terrestrial Biomes: The Temperate Forests food chain
Energy and Matter Cycles
Solar
Energy
SUN
Chemical
material
Chemical
Energy
Energy
lost into the environment
Energy from sunlight (yellow line) is taken in by phototrophs, a process called photosynthesis. The energy is a chemical bond in foods and moves through the successive trophic levels (blue lines). During the exchange of energy, some is lost as heat, through respiratory functions that support all living organisms (dashed brown lines). Finally there is a cycling of all materials through the entire ecosystem (red lines). The two-way (red arrow) represents the flow of energy between decomposers and producers (Franz & Kaufman, 2000).
No transformation of energy is 100%. A lot of energy is lost as heat.
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10. Terrestrial Biomes: The Temperate Forests food chain
Energy and Matter Cycles in an Ecosystem
Next level 9 kilocalories are left
What percentage of energy is kept within the ecosystem each time that you move up of level in the food chain?
Next level 90 kilocalories are left
Next level 900 kilocalories are left
Energy Pyramid
An energy pyramid describes how energy is produced, consumed, and distributed through each trophic level of the ecosystem. All distribution is not efficient and differs from species to species (Franz & Kaufman, 2000).
* 90% of all energy is lost in the consumption process
* This percent can vary from 10% to 30%
* Approximately 10% is transferred at each trophic level (the 10 percent rule) (Franz & Kaufman, 2000)
Effects of thermodynamics on population at the top of the energy pyramid
As energy moves through the ecosystem it is neither created nor destroyed, but it can be changed in form and moved to differing locations. The top of the food change is dependant on levels and species below it and as energy moves through the ecosystem it looses its useful form, in some cases only useful as heat.
Start with 9000 kilocalories of energy
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11. Terrestrial Biomes: The Temperate Forests food chain
Energy and Matter Cycles
Population size is determine by the amount of food available.
Factors influencing population size are: births, deaths, immigration, emigration.
Other limiting factors can be identified as: amount of light, soil or water pH, terrain, depth of snow, temperature, air humidity, predation, competition, human activity, weather, space, etc.
Population size = (Mean number of individuals per section X Total area)/ area of a section
Population density = number of individuals / area or volume occupied.
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12. Terrestrial Biomes: The Temperate Forests food chain
Roles in Energy and Matter Cycles
All the animals are predators.
A predator lives off another organism. It does not necessarily need to kill the other organism.
Parasitism is s special form of predation. The predator in parasitism lives on or in the organism that it is drawing food from.
The organism doing the eating in or on the other organism is called the parasite.
The organism being eaten by a parasite is called the host.
Can you identify the roles of predation and parasitism?
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13. Biomes: They are very complex and together they support life on Earth.
It is the living world that first confronts us with real complexity. The physical world seems at first glance to be either simple or chaotic, but the patterns in the living world are evident everywhere - from coral reefs to rainforests -and they reveal complex patterns. Their intricacy and beauty have always astounded us, and they have always seemed very different from the patterns of the physical world.
Scientist first try to organize information about the living world by classifying organisms. This is called taxonomy. It gives us an idea of how organisms are related to each other and we place similar organisms in the same grouping.
Later we came to examine how living organisms interacted with each other and the environment.
This study is called ecology and it requires the understanding of many sciences: biology, chemistry, biochemistry, physics and others. It is a fascinating field of study since as soon as you start studying one relation (a piece of the spider web) , you quickly realize that there are usually many other strings involved with the relation.
Like a spider's web, each part of the biomes is linked directly or indirectly. Break one part and the web becomes weaker.

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References
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