Unit 16: Ecology

Front 1

Tropical Rain Forest

Back 1

-close to the equator
-recieve high amounts of rainfall
-greatest variety of plants and animals
-canopy is top layer, coverin layers below

Front 2

Savanna

Back 2

-grasslands with scattered trees
-3 distinct seasons: cool & dry, hot & dry, warm & wet
-many times of plants and animals
-fire inhibits invasion by trees to maintain grasses
-large herbivores (zebras, giraffes) and burrowing animals most active in rainy season, many are nocturnal
-During dry season, many small anials are dormant or survive on seeds and dead plant parts

Front 3

Desert

Back 3

-low rainfall
-both hot and cold deserts
-sparse vegetaiton, like cacti and succulents
-many nocturnal animals to avoid heat
-animals and plants have physiological and behavioral adaptations for dry conditions

Front 4

Chaparal (scrubland)

Back 4

-Mild wet winters and dry hot summers
-Dense spiny shurbs with tough evergreen leaves
-Along coasts where cool ocean currents circulate offshore
-vegetation adapted to fires
-deer, fruit-eating birds, rodents, snakes, and lizards common

Front 5

Temperate Grassland

Back 5

-Similar to trpical savanna but cold winters
-Seasonal drought, occasional fires
-Usually used for grazing and agriculture

Front 6

Temperate Deciduous Forest

Back 6

-Dense stands of trees
-Very cold winters and hot summers
-Trees lose leaves and go dorman in winter
-Precipitation is fairly high and evenly distributed throughout year
-Soil is rich in nutrients
-Human have logged many around the world

Front 7

Taiga (Coniferous Forests)

Back 7

-Largest terrestrial biome on earth
-Long cold winters and short wet summers, common at high altitudes
-Conifers common
-Animals: seed eaters such as squirrels birds, and insects; browsers such as elk, moose, deer, beaver, and porcupine; predators such as grizzly bears, wolves
-Soil is thin, acidic and forms slowly due to low temps and slow decomposition of waxy needles

Front 8

Tundra

Back 8

-Northern most limits of plant growth
-At high altitudes plant forms are limited to low, shrubby or matlike vegetation
-Climate is windy and cold--> short growing season
-A layer of permafrost is found below 1 meter and does not thaw--> prevents root growth
-Not many animals live

Front 9

Estuaries

Back 9

Area where freshwater and saltwater meet
-often bordered by saltmarshes or intertidal mudflats
-salinity varies greatly
-crucial feeding area for many types of water fowl
-very productive due to nutrients brought in by rivers

Front 10

Intertidal Zones

Back 10

-Region alternately submerged and exposed by the daily tide cycle
-Great variety of organisms inhabit these areas (suspension feeding worms, crustaceans, mollusks, seaweed)
-Subject to mechanical forces of wave action
-Exposed to greater variations in availability of seawater and temperature

Front 11

Coral Reefs

Back 11

-Exist in neritic zone where sunlight penetrates to ocean floor, constant supply of nutrients provided by currents and waves
-Dominated by coral, a diverse group of animalia that secrete CaCO3 external skeleton that provides a substrate on which other corals and algae grow
-Corals feed on microscopic organisms and organic debris, dependent on the photosytnhetic products of symbiotic dinoflagellates
-very diverse and productive but vulternable to environmental change

Front 12

Ocean Pelagic Biome

Back 12

-Open waters far from shore
-Photosynthetic plankton grow in photic region (account for 50% of photosynthetc output on Earth)
-Most species stay afloat thru aid of morphological structures

Front 13

Nekton

Back 13

free swimming animals like large squid, fishes, sea turtles, and marine mammals
in Oceanic Pelagic Biome

Front 14

Benthos

Back 14

Ocean bottom below the neritic and pelagic zones
-Extremely productive due to great amt of nutrients found
-Deep benthic communities live in the abyssal zone

Front 15

Abyssal Zone

Back 15

-High pressure, low temps, absence of lght, low nutrient concentrations
-Deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities-superheated by volcanic activity
-chemoautotroph bacteria are primary producer- obtain energy by oxidizing H2S which form a reaction of the hot vent water with dissolved sulfate